The G7 countries are preparing to issue guiding principles for the issuance of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). The G7 council consists of the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, but none of the G7 members has yet issued a CBDC.
The draft guidelines reportedly consist of 13 points, mainly focusing on transparency and privacy. Draft rules are expected to be approved at a meeting of “financial chiefs” in Washington on Wednesday.
The draft guidelines acknowledge the growing digital payments over the past few years and the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies in general.
The draft also worries about the Chinese CBDC as a surveillance tool and mentions the need for CBDCs to focus on user privacy and security. The draft guidelines said that although regulation is an independent decision of a country, the CBDC must:
“A common set of principles should be set and the importance of shared values such as transparency, the rule of law and sound economic governance should be taken into account. These principles can guide the research and creation of retail CBDCs between the G7 and other countries and provide information on CBDCs.
Can These G7 Decisions Accelerate CBDC Plans?
CBDC discussions have started to occupy the agenda frequently in recent days. The main reason for this was, of course, the CBDC move from China. Although China has recently completed the development of the digital Yuan, it has been testing CBDC use cases long ago (about two years ago) and has run several pilot programs.
Although the rest of the world has tried to conduct independent studies for their own CBDCs, no country has made as much progress as China. The G7’s interest in CBDC appears to be able to accelerate development in these countries and assist in establishing the basic principles and methods of exchangeability between countries.