A digital Canadian dollar should imitate traditional banknotes in terms of availability and accessibility, according to staff from the country's central bank, the Bank of Canada. In an analytical note on June 30, experts from the Bank of Canada revealed some of the goals for its central bank digital currency (CBDC). Analytical notes are a product of staff and analysts at the bank, separate from the Governing Council, so they do not necessarily represent the opinion of the bank itself. The group of experts explained that the CBDC should imitate the features of regular bank notes. This means it must …

Representatives from multiple central banks discussed whether or not cryptocurrency could spell the end of fiat currencies during the Money20/20 conference in Amsterdam today, June 5. During a panel talk titled “Cryptocurrency, the Central (Bank) Question”, representatives from the Swiss National Bank, the Bank of Lithuania, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Canada took turns responding to the question “Can cryptocurrencies spell the end of fiat currencies?”. Bank of Canada executive James Chapman stated that cryptocurrencies are only a threat to fiat currencies in a “situation of hyperinflation”. Thomas Moser, an alternate member of the governing board at …

Canada’s central bank, Toronto Stock Exchange operator TMX Group, and non-profit organization Payments Canada, completed tests showing blockchain can be used for instantaneous securities settlements, Reuters reports today, May 11. The three companies concluded that blockchain, the technology originally developed for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), is usable for automating securities settlements in real time. Both cash and assets can effectively be “tokenized” for instant exchange. Gerry Gaetz, president and CEO of Payments Canada, told Reuters: “This shows that it is possible to deliver payments in a way that has never been done before – by directly swapping cash from …