On Monday, May 8th, the Bank of Canada launched a consultation on the design of its digital dollar. The Bank is seeking feedback on what key features the public believes the potential CBDC should have. The press release, however, highlights that there is currently no need for a digital Canadian dollar and warns that such a currency may ultimately never be issued.

Bank of Canada Is Seeking Opinions on How to Design a CBDC That “Meets the Needs of Canadians”

This Monday, the Bank of Canada launched a public consultation on the future of a national CBDC. The Central Bank is seeking feedback on a number of key issues with a focus on how people would use it, what are the most important security features, and how people view privacy and accessibility concerns.

Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers explained in the press release that the main goal of the creation of a digital Canadian dollar is to ensure that “everyone can always take part in (the) country’s economy.” Rogers also added that the Central Bank is hoping to design a CBDC that would meet the needs of the Canadian people and would be adequately secure and reliable.

The press release, however, also highlights that the current view of the Bank of Canada is that a national CDBC is not needed. It instead states that any decision on its creation would fall upon the Parliament and the Government. Therefore, the work on the design of the digital dollar, and the public consultation are more meant as a way to futureproof the nation against possible developments.

The Bank of Canada stated that it will publish the summary of the results of the consultation before the end of the year.

The Increasing Scrutiny of CBDCs

While numerous major and minor economies have been working on their central-bank digital currencies for years, recent months have generated an increasingly heated debate on them. The recent work on a digital US dollar has created a camp of opponents to its development and implementation among whom Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis has perhaps been the most prominent.

DeSantis is well-known for his fairly crypto-friendly stance showcased, for example, by his proposal to allow local businesses to pay their taxes in digital currencies. He has, however, since the start of 2023 started advocating against CBDC even bringing forth a bill that would prohibit the use of a digital US dollar and other such currencies in his state. Across the Atlantic, a UK advocacy group has also recently started a campaign against the introduction of the digital pound citing primarily the risks posed to the privacy of individuals.

At the same time, a rising number of countries across the globe have started work on their CBDCs. China, which boasts one of the oldest such projects, recently partnered with BNP Paribas to help boost the adoption of the digital yuan. Additionally, Montenegro recently became one of the newest additions to the drive with a partnership with Ripple aimed at creating either a CBDC or a national stablecoin.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist

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