8 - Opportunities, Challenges, and Design of CBDCs

Summary

This chapter analyse if and how new technologies, and the distributed ledger technology (DLT), could really represent an opportunity, and not a threat, for the banking industry. Through the illustration of the Spunta DLT project, we illustrate how the Italian Banking Association has concretely brought the permissioned blockchain in the Italian banking sector, through an infrastructure for banks operating in Italy that in the future may host other applications. The chapter then dwells on the possibility that the ECB could issue a CBDC, and ABI’s position is presented. In this context, considering the experience gained on DLT, an experimental path related to the digital Euro is illustrated. This project was launched by ABI in December 2020 with the aim of actively contributing to the public debate and supporting Italian banks in the process of preparation for the future scenario, in the case the ECB decides to issue a digital Euro. The chapter concludes with an update on the current scenario that foresees the Eurosystem working on a possible functional design based on and prototyping the digital Euro. In the description of the current scenario, we wish to emphasise that, to effectively compete with comparable instruments offered by private entities or other foreign central banks, it is desirable that the digital Euro enable exchanges beyond the mere transfer of money. Moreover, for the digital Euro to be successful, it must enable the provision of value-added services, thereby supporting competition without displacing private initiatives, primarily around digital payments and avoiding the risk of disintermediation.