Seyong Park
Historically, central banks around the world have pioneered payment services. Since then, central banks have been regarded as evolving spheres of payment innovation. In today’s global economy, technology innovation has the most effect. This has become more influential and crucial as technology occupies our way of life, and naturally, money is steering to the biggest metamorphosis in reinvention. The innovative technology industry in financial services pertained even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Countless innovative technologies appeared onstage, containing the expansion of computers and the Internet, the introduction of mobile phones and smartphones, and the development of applications. Banking innovations also allowed people to receive wages directly into their bank accounts, wire transfers, and deposit money into savings accounts online. As the utilization of digital payments perks up in the retail sector and across other industrial fields, consumers shift to non-cash transactions, resulting in massive alternations in purchasing behavior and consumer culture in both powerful nations and developing countries. Conspicuously, after the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile technology is deeply embedded in our lives. Technology has been extraordinary in the habits for consumers to use e-money without cash. Plenty of consumers are fascinated by easy payment, including PayPal, Libra, Alipay, M-Pesa, stablecoins, Paxos, Swish, WeChat Pay, and Zelle. For the national economy to function effectively, endeavors should be made to assure the people of the country’s money and payment services. As the central bank of a country, the central bank must enduringly win the trust of the people by creating financial stability, stabilization of currency, and a secure payment system. Because of this, central banks are currently researching two key ways: wholesale and retail. In the retail space, an approach that could help those who currently do not have access to banking services is to allow them to open accounts with a central bank through a central bank digital currency (CBDC). In the wholesale realm, the objective is to make CBDC without difficulty better accessible to banks and other institutions. In this book, I would like to analyze the CBDC due to the recent increase in interest in central bank digital currency.
