Canada’s central bank asks citizens what they want in a digital dollar

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Cana­di­ans are being asked to sub­mit what fea­tures they want to be includ­ed in a poten­tial dig­i­tal Cana­di­an dol­lar, with the country’s cen­tral bank open­ing a con­sul­ta­tion to the public.

On May 8, the Bank of Cana­da (BoC) launched a pub­lic con­sul­ta­tion that will run until June 19, not­ing it’s explor­ing a vir­tu­al loonie as “the world becomes increas­ing­ly digital.”

The BoC’s senior deputy gov­er­nor Car­olyn Rogers said in a state­ment the bank wants to hear what Cana­di­ans “val­ue most in the design of a dig­i­tal dol­lar” to help it make choic­es relat­ing to its secu­ri­ty and reli­a­bil­i­ty along with ensur­ing it “meets the needs of Canadians.”

The bank was quick to state that it’s not start­ing work on a cen­tral bank dig­i­tal cur­ren­cy (CBDC) and wasn’t look­ing to replace cash if it does.

“At this time, a dig­i­tal Cana­di­an dol­lar is not need­ed. And any deci­sion to issue one rests with Par­lia­ment and the Gov­ern­ment of Canada.”

“Cash isn’t going any­where,” the BoC added. It said, how­ev­er, that many Cana­di­ans could be exclud­ed from the econ­o­my in the future if the use of ban­knotes falls.

If a CBDC was issued, phys­i­cal notes would still be pro­vid­ed “for those who want them” the bank said.

The BoC also out­lined the pos­si­bil­i­ty that cryp­tocur­ren­cies or for­eign CBD­Cs “could become wide­ly used in Canada.”

It claimed this sce­nario could com­pro­mise the Cana­di­an dol­lar and “pose a risk to the sta­bil­i­ty of our finan­cial system.”

Relat­ed: Retail CBD­Cs bring unknown ‘con­se­quences’ to finan­cial sys­tem — IMF director

The consultation’s ques­tion­naire asks Cana­di­ans a wide range of ques­tions includ­ing the pay­ment meth­ods they’ve used in the last month, how often they would poten­tial­ly use a Cana­di­an CBDC and what design fea­tures they wish to see.

It also specif­i­cal­ly asks if the sur­vey tak­er uses or holds cryp­tocur­ren­cies and fea­tures a range of demo­graph­ic ques­tions about gen­der, age, edu­ca­tion and income.

Cana­di­ans are asked as part of the dig­i­tal dol­lar con­sul­ta­tion if they use or hold cryp­to. Source: BoC

The BoC said it will pub­lish a report sum­ma­riz­ing the con­sul­ta­tion “lat­er this year.”

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