Thank you to Mirela Ciobanu for this great video in “The Paypers.”
“Payment digitalisation brought by COVID, the need to conduct cheaper, faster, and fraud-prone cross-border transactions, and the innovation brought by concepts such as stablecoins, crypto, and DeFi, are forcing financial institutions to modernise their infrastructure and adapt to a new way of conducting payments.”
Mirela Ciobanu Paypers
Full article in “The Paypers:” here
An “energetic discussion” on China’s CBDC, the new “Made in Asia” mCBDC FX hubs, SWIFT, the US Fed not looking out for the “little guy” and geopolitics!
Thank you to Mirela Ciobanu from “The Paypers” for a great talk about our shared CBDC future! This discussion was fast-paced and fun. You will not fall asleep because Mirela asked great questions!
And yes, as always, I deliver plenty of 💣 “truth bombs”
Timestamp with highlights:
2:50 The BIS White Paper on cross-border payments?
💣The BIS cross-border payment systems are the most important financial infrastructure projects in perhaps our lifetime. These projects fundamentally change the infrastructure or plumbing of international transfers. They are all located in Asia!
4:34 What are the main benefits of CBDC?
💣 “What is in it for you?” Never forget that whenever you use a card or a phone you are paying fees and the merchant who sells you coffee pays a fee. When we use domestic CBDC retail systems we will be able to make free and direct P2P payments without an intermediary.
6:50 Who will pay for CBDCs?
Your central bank or government will have to pay for CBDC systems. Some of these costs will be taken from the large amounts required to print, handle and transport cash.
9:00 What will happen with SWIFT?
SWIFT isn’t going away, they are going to do just fine. 💣 But how we use SWIFT will change.
10:00 Is China 5-10 years ahead of the West?
I think its at least 10 years ahead. China is already mostly cashless through the use of WeChat and Alipay. The entire country has an 8 year lead in going cashless.
The big question is can the digital yuan help China increase yuan usage? 💣 Yes! It won’t “kill the dollar” but will make China less dependent on the dollar. This transition will happen over 10 years.
13:45 The US and EU are behind in digitization?
Congratulations to the EU for working hard on the digital euro! The ECB is much more forward-looking than the Fed. 💣 The ECB sees its role as helping its citizens, the Fed looks at its role as protecting the banks and doesn’t look out for the little guy!
15:50 What is the role of geopolitics in all this?
Its huge! We’re in a new world. 💣 We’re already seeing the geopolitics of a bifurcated US-China payment system. That is the reality of the times we live in. Somebody is going to profit from this!
18:30 Where will we be in five years’ time?
All of you will have digital wallets and you will pay with the currency that suits your needs whether its CBDC, stablecoins or crypto. 💣 This is all 3-5 years away, it’s coming faster than most think!