A group of researchers under the Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a detailed report on the inclusivity of the retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) design.
Research Considerations
The study was carried out by MIT and Maiden labs for a period of 15 months in four low- and middle-income nations; Nigeria, India, Indonesia, and Mexico.
Researchers considered three aspects of CBDC based on the actual examples of people’s lives in the countries of study. These included existing financial infrastructure, CBDC design options, and user experience.
In addition, the study explicitly emphasized differences between intermediated and non-intermediated (cash) forms of payments. These differences arose by comparing five accordances (what a user can do with technology) in intermediate and non-intermediate systems. Other comparison areas were the actual world application of the two systems and the challenges they posed for at-risk users.
Concerns Facing the Use of CBDC
Given that all the six CBDC pilots and projects running today use intermediated design models, the group arrived at several points of CBDC weaknesses. One issue raised by the report is the replication of harms of existing forms of payments by digital currency.
The authors emphasized that there is a potential risk of intermediated CBDC making a replica design of the existing intermediated forms of payment. Therefore, being of the identical make-up, CBDC will inherit the problems of the current monetary systems.
Key Challenges
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(Image credit: logll.com)
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Frequently Asked Questions
The report aims to study the inclusivity of the retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) design.
The study was conducted by a group of researchers under the Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in collaboration with Maiden Labs.
The study was conducted in four low- and middle-income nations; Nigeria, India, Indonesia, and Mexico.
The study emphasized differences between intermediated and non-intermediated (cash) forms of payments by comparing five accordances (what a user can do with technology) in intermediate and non-intermediate systems. Other comparison areas were the actual world application of the two systems and the challenges they posed for at-risk users.
The report raises concerns about the potential replication of harms of existing forms of payments by digital currency and the lack of trust in the government as the main challenges facing the use of CBDCs. Additionally, the report also highlighted governance and trust as key challenges regarding the use of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).
