Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for inviting me to speak here today. We all experienced how the pandemic accelerated the shift to virtual events, but I am pleased that today we are gathering in person. Yet the world is not returning to the old normal. Payments are a case in point. The pandemic has accelerated a longer-running move to digital. Mobile and contactless payments are already part of our daily lives; QR codes and "buy now, pay later" options are gaining popularity; gloves, badges and Olympic uniforms with payment functions are being prepared for the Beijing Winter Olympics; and the ... (full story)

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is signaling to central banks that they must prepare for the advent of central bank digital currencies (CBDC). “Central bank money will have to evolve to be fit for the digital future,” Benoît Cœuré, head of the BIS Innovation Hub, said during a speech on Friday at the Eurofi Financial Forum in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Cœuré dedicated his closing speech at the forum to discussing the role of central banks in the rollout of CBDCs and the challenges global stablecoins – cryptocurrencies linked to real world assets like the U.S. dollar – and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms ... (full story)