Canadians have "weak incentive" to use a CBDC: Bank of Canada

A central bank working paper found that the majority of Canadians have little difficulty accessing financial services, giving them few reasons to use a CBDC.< /p> News Join us on social networks

The typical Canadian has little reason to adopt a central bank-issued digital currency, which could cause widespread acceptance issues, according to a new Bank of Canada document.

In the staff discussion paper released August 10, the central bank looked at a hypothetical scenario where liquidity would be virtually eliminated to see what role a potential CBDC could play in helping the underbanked.

It was found that most consumers would have "weak incentives" to use one, as Canadians do not face significant barriers to financial services such as bank accounts or debit and credit cards .

Screenshot of discussion document from staff. Source: Bank of Canada

98% of Canadian adults have a bank account, 87% also have a credit card, and 90% of rural and urban households combined can access high-quality internet , the paper says.

He found, however, that replacing cash with digital dollars would also mean that tech-averse Canadians would have fewer payment options, while cash-dependent Canadians would find themselves unable to pay. make the most common payments.

Potentially low adoption of a CBDC would also lead merchants to be unwilling to accept one, further reducing its usefulness.

The latest results of our survey show that 92% of merchants have no intention of giving up cash.

Read more of our survey results: https://t.co/DX0lUJ90u7#cdnecon #PaymentMethods #Survey pic.twitter.com/017UYxiIC4...