Digital Society:

According to the Bank of Spain, the study can assist in evaluating how far it can adapt to the “needs and demands of an increasingly digital society.”

The Bank of Spain (BDE), the central bank of Spain, said it plans to start testing wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (CDBCs) and is looking for collaboration proposals from regional financial and technological organizations.

According to a translated December 5 statement, the bank will concentrate on three critical areas with the program that seeks to simulate the movement of funds, experiment with the liquidation of financial assets, and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of introducing a wholesale CBDC to its current processes and infrastructure.

CBDC purpose:

In contrast to retail or general-purpose CBDCs, which are available to the general public, a wholesale CBDC is a digital currency primarily used by banks to maintain reserves with a central bank.

The program was described as being “unique” to the BDE and having no connection to the work being done in the European Union to study the usage of a digital euro.

Applications for the initiative must be submitted by January 31, 2023, and prospective participants must meet the bank’s minimal requirements and identify their “economic means” to contribute to the project.

The research of CBDCs can assist assess how much they can contribute to “adapting to the needs and demands of an increasingly digital society,” the BDE claimed in its justification for launching the program.

Additionally, it was mentioned that CBDCs are being “analyzed and experimented” within a few jurisdictions, primarily for retail applications; however, it was also noted that more businesses are looking into CBDCs “of a wholesale nature or interbank.”

RBA over CDBC:

At a central bank conference on December 8, Brad Jones, the Assistant Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), stated that a retail CBDC might cause individuals to leave commercial banks and replace the Australian currency.

According to Jones, over 80 financial institutions have proposed use cases for the Australian dollar eAUD CBDC trial that the RBA issued on August 9. However, Jones also cautioned that banks would experience liquidity concerns if a CBDC becomes the preferred source of assets.

Before the end of 2022, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) plans to start a trial program for a retail CBDC with a 10,000-person capacity.

This occurred after the Bank of China began testing its e-CNY in April 2020. It is now the most extensively used CBDC in the world and has completed transactions totaling $14 billion during its pilot period.

Conclusion:

Bank of Spain (BDE) will experiment with wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), separate from EU’s digital euro work.