China leaps ahead on digital currency

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As China leaps ahead on digital currency, a top central bank group is calling for global cooperation

• The Bank for International Settlements said in a report Friday that central banks should work to achieve “interoperability” between their digital currency projects.
  
• This can be achieved through a number of ways, the report said, such as creating common standards and establishing international payment infrastructures.
  
• The People’s Bank of China has been leading the way on central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, with real-world trials already live in several cities.
  

LONDON — Top financial institutions are calling for global cooperation on central bank digital currencies.

The Bank for International Settlements, the global body for central banks, issued a report Friday saying that central banks should work to achieve “interoperability” between their digital currency projects.

This can be achieved through a number of ways, the report said, such as creating common standards and establishing international payment infrastructures.

The report was written in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Several central banks are exploring digital currencies which would be issued by central banks to commercial banks or directly to the public. Their efforts have intensified over the past year amid a decline in cash usage and growing interest in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

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