A recent survey conducted by WealthRocket revealed that a significant number of Canadians are willing to rely on a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
In fact, close to 60% of the surveyed citizens expressed their openness towards the concept of a CBDC.
“59% of Canadians are willing, to varying degrees, to use a central bank digital currency (CBDC) if one ever becomes available, and 25% would use it in place of cash.
56% of Canadians are concerned about the potential for fraud with a CBDC, as well as the risk of cyber attacks (53%), potential misuse of personal data (44%), and lack of anonymity with transactions (35%).
51% of Canadians are somewhat confident in the Bank of Canada to safeguard their privacy if a CBDC is implemented, while 25% aren’t confident at all.”
According to the Bank of Canada, they currently have no intentions of implementing a CBDC. However, they are taking necessary precautions in the event that the government requests it in the future.
The Bank of Canada recently conducted a public consultation on CBDCs from April to June.
During this consultation, Canadians were asked about their payment habits, potential use of a CBDC, and their level of trust in the government and institutions to protect their personal information.
The central bank intends to use the feedback gathered during the consultation to guide the ongoing development of CBDCs.
CBDC pilot program
According to a report from Reuters, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) is preparing to launch a pilot program for a new “wholesale” central bank digital currency (CBDC).
SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan announced the plan during a financial conference held in Zurich on Monday. The pilot will be initiated on Switzerland’s SIX digital exchange in the near future.
“This is not just an experiment, it will be real money equivalent to bank reserves and the objective is to test real transactions with market participants.”
According to reports, the program will only deal with wholesale CBDCs, which are exclusively used for big transactions between financial institutions.
