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The Case for Harmonising Central Bank Digital Currencies for Cross- Border Transactions

Policy Brief Arul Kurian

This Policy Brief was first published in https://t20ind.org

Cross-border transactions face serious inadequacies, such as high costs, low speed, limited access, and insufficient transparency. Network effectsa caused by entrenched legacy systems prohibit radical upgrades in cross-border payment infrastructures. In the long term, a novel multilateral solution with a ‘clean slate’ advantage should be a more pressing priority than tweaking legacy systems for improved efficiency. More than 100 countries worldwide are in various stages of developing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). A collective action to harmonise domestic CDBCs for cross-border transactions is needed to avoid losing the ‘clean slate’ advantage.