The World Economic Forum (WEF) is clearly championing the introduction not only of (retail) central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for the general public but also the wholesale version, wCBDC, geared toward interbank payments and securities transactions.
It is not uncommon to come across leading financial institutions and banks linking to WEF reports while explaining and promoting their own activities in this space.
And yet, a new WEF report (a collaborative effort with Accenture) titled, “Modernizing Financial Markets with Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (wCBDC),” states that the group does not actually explicitly “advocate” for issuance of wCBDCs.
(Nonetheless, the same report, “a critical analysis,” at one point in fact states that it “advocates for collaboration among central banks, commercial banks and financial market infrastructures to use wCBDC to address interbank payment and securities transaction challenges.”)
The WEF, an informal group gathering global elites, seems aware that CDBCs, in general, are a controversial proposition, and may be trying to control the optics regarding the depth of its involvement, since it doesn’t necessarily help elected national governments if WEF is seen as the main driving force behind the schemes.
However, the WEF also obviously again trying to position itself at the center of incoming policies: “This report offers timely insights for public and private sector leaders evaluating the potential role of wCBDC in their jurisdictions,” it reads.
Either way, WEF has for a while now evidently been taking the lead in crafting a template of sorts for policies that will allow mass adoption of (w) CBDCs around the world.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
