R3 research director at global banking consortium, Anthony Lewis foresees central bank digital currency launch already this year. As a matter of fact, Lewis has stated that such cryptocurrency would be used only by some of the financial institutions in the beginning.
5 April, AtoZForex – Reportedly, a form of central bank digital currency (CBDC) is set to go live this year, according to the research director at global banking consortium and distributed ledger software startup R3, Anthony Lewis.
R3 Researcher Foresees Central Bank Digital Currency Launch
Mr. Lewis has shared his outlook at the panel discussion at the Deconomy event in Seoul, South Korea. He has been quoted as saying:
"For wholesale use (of CBDC), I think we are looking at this year. We have had conversations with central banks who have mandates to fix certain payment problems, and one solution they look to is a blockchain type of platform.”
However, he has clarified that this does not imply that consumers will see the new payment choice that operates as Bitcoin. As a matter of fact, Lewis has stated that such cryptocurrency would be used only by some of the financial institutions in the beginning.
Likewise, Lewis stated that such a system would most likely even only be used in particular situations. He has added:
"Don't make your secondary (decentralized) system look like your primary (centralized) system. Otherwise If a primary system goes down in an attack, then all the attackers need to do is just to play the same trick. Then it's not resilience, it's just another IP address to attack."
Can Blockchain replace the existing banking system?
Some of other experts at the discussion were not as positive as Lewis in regards to their outlooks. However, they did agree on some points. Stanley Yong, global CBDC lead at IBM and a former CBDC researcher at Singapore's central bank, has stated that he believes that a Blockchain system will eventually be applied to a commercial banking. He has stated:
"If it issues cryptocurrency to millions and billions of citizens, it will have to hold all these individual accounts, which inherently increases the market and credit risks.”
As projections have varied, there was an optimistic direction for Blockchain to replace the existing banking technology, as Mr. Yong has stated that such systems are "due for retirement."
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