Canada’s Central Bank Report Shows Difficulties in CBDC Adoption

• Banque du Canada released a report on CBDC adoption.
• The report revealed adoption challenges.
• CBDC experimentation continues globally.  

The Central Bank of Canada has published a staff discussion paper highlighting the unmet payment needs of Canadians.

Dated August 10, 2023, the report took a jab on CBDC adoption, depicting a range of difficulties in realizing a hypothetical cashless environment powered by Central Bank-issued digital currencies.

Canadian Majority Unready for CBDC

There are many reasons behind the slow adoption of CBDC in Canada. According to the report, the current payment landscape in Canada is mature and thriving, even without the intervention of CBDC, given that 98% of the adult population has a bank account.

Another statistic mentioned in the report is that 90% of households in Canada, both rural and urban, are connected to high-quality internet and can swiftly access electronic chequing, e-transfer, online billing, and pre-authorized payment privileges.

From these statistics, among other findings, the researchers inferred that most Canadians do not experience significant gaps in access to payment services, which is likely to remain the case even with the advent and maturity of a cashless economy.

“A CBDC would need to be widely adopted and used at scale by the dominant consumer groups who face few gaps in meeting their payment needs. Such adoption and use would be necessary to motivate merchant acceptance, which, in turn, would encourage further consumer use and merchant acceptance, and so on,” read the report.  

CBDC Adoption Across the World

While Canadians are shying away from CBDC, the concept is taking shape at a sheer scale in other parts of the world. In China, for example, the CBDC pilot program covers over 260 million people with various payment needs. Across the world, 130 countries representing 98% of the global economy are actively experimenting with CBDC.

Explore the new Ripple CBDC platform:

New Ripple CBDC Platform: Unlocking Financial Inclusion Worldwide

A look into Australia’s CBDC program:

Australia and Mastercard to Mastermind CBDC Test Pilot