THE (R)EVOLUTION

OF MONEY II
Blockchain Empowered
Central Bank Digital Currencies

Copyright © 2019 Accenture.

All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
Foreword    3

Introduction   4

Recent blockchain developments   6

Money and payment challenges   7

Central bank digital currency (CBDC)   9

CBDC design   15

CBDC projects   18

Conclusion   20

References   21

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 2

FOREWORD
What is the future of central bank money?
The needs for central bank money are Accenture believes that the future
evolving. The emergence of new financial of money likely rests in the broad-
ecosystems requires new media of exchange. based adoption of both tokenization and
Central bank money remains the preferred decentralization. Both may be critical to
settlement medium for large value transactions, meet new demands for money and establish
but a new format of money is required. more direct, transparent and efficient payment
relations for national and international
The financial architecture is strained.
financial transactions.
National payments infrastructures are siloed,
excessively concentrated and exhibit high Central banks may have the unique catalytic
barriers of entry. International payments power to facilitate those changes with the
are hindered by important friction amid introduction of blockchain-enabled central
undue reliance on correspondent banks, bank digital currencies (CBDC).
use of a narrow set of currencies and
The present report invites central
high transaction costs. This risks creating
banks and commercial banks to consider
financial fragmentation and instability,
the introduction of CBDC. It represents
producing liquidity blockages and inducing
a complementary document to The
inefficiencies in payment relations.
(R)evolution of Money report of 2017.1

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 3

INTRODUCTION
The requirements of what money does are changing.
Money as medium of exchange has seen Tokenization emerges as a new format
little innovation since the introduction to represent goods, assets and rights.
of paper currencies and cashless transfers It offers new financial utility and attributes
in the nineteenth century. The emergence and promises greater flexibility and liquidity
of new financial ecosystems necessitates of the underlying. To transfer tokens, a simple
new money functionalities. Technology token swap is performed. This requires a
determines largely what money can do. tokenized settlement medium. Since central
Changes in technology now offer new bank money remains a preferred and for large
money uses. A new money format is needed. value transactions, the preferred settlement
medium, a central bank issued digital currency
Monetary and payment relations are strained.
(CBDC) or tokenized central bank money
The global financial and economic crisis
is needed in token-based exchanges.
has reinvigorated concerns about large
concentrated financial risks, elevated barriers CBDC leverages the advantages of blockchain.
to entry and transaction costs and increasing Blockchain is a fitting technology to
vulnerability to security breaches and administer tokens and is set to enable new
outright failures. Inefficiencies in securities payment relations through a combination
clearing and settlement impose undue risks. of tokenization, decentralization and secure
Persistent high exchange rate volatility information sharing. This enables peer-to-peer
seems indicative of the fact that financial transactions, offers a more resilient payment
liquidity does as needed. It is quite possible infrastructure, reduces transaction costs,
that we are nearing the end-of-life of large enhances information sharing capabilities
value payment systems, which in turn offers and facilitates data reconciliation.
an opportunity to revisit whether existing
payment technologies remain best adapted
to address prevailing payment challenges.

The (R)evolution of money

addresses the considerations
of what money should do next.
It is not about a mere substitution
of money but to broaden the
functionality and utility of money.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 4

The emergence of private currencies, Recent advances in blockchain technologies
crypto-assets, as media of exchange has allow to largely refute residual concerns about
projected scope for payments innovation maturity, privacy, inter-operability and scalability.
and fostered the debate towards change. Successful pilot projects have demonstrated
While the proliferation of crypto-instruments that blockchain can meet performance of
remains uncertain, the co-existence of private existing technologies in payments, clearing and
and official currencies appears to be a high settlement. Privacy concerns can mostly
probability outcome. The proliferation of be addressed with the design and configuration
stable coins, and utility settlement coins, both of the blockchain and recent breakthroughs
exhibiting shortcomings, indicates that there in inter-operability enables communication
is demand for tokenized currencies.2, 3, 4 and connection of different blockchains
with one another.
Central banks have a historical
Central banks can act now as catalysts to help
opportunity to define new shape a new emerging financial architecture.
standards for digital currencies.
Central banks have facilitated key innovations and
Similar to their role at the beginning of modern new standards of money in the past. The adoption
central banking to harmonize notes and coinage, of CBDC now offers the opportunity to set the
central banks can provide needed support standard for digital currencies and helps to
for new token-based financial ecosystems. ensure central bank money remains future-proof.
Many central banks have engaged in central While considerations for CBDC will differ amid
bank digital currency projects. Safety and various use cases for retail, wholesale and cross-
efficiency are cited as main motivations to border transactions, national preferences and
consider digital currencies. Among emerging international arrangements will be critical.
markets, central banks payment efficiencies
in cross-border transactions and financial
inclusion are additional motivators.5 The typical
interdependence between large value payment
systems, in particular real-time gross settlement
(RTGS) systems, and central securities
depositary-securities settlement (CSD-SSS)
systems implies that the impact of central
bank digital currencies extends to immediate
and intermediate payment applications.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 5

RECENT BLOCKCHAIN
DEVELOPMENTS
The readiness of blockchain Bank of Canada, Bank of England
and Monetary Authority of Singapore
enabled payment solutions (Nov 2018)11 – The cross-border payment
has made significant progress project concluded that tokenization can
during the past 6 months. help overcome prevailing inefficiencies
and constraints in cross-border payments.
Blockchain can now address residual
concerns about scalability and inter-operability Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)
and therefore offers the foundations for (Oct 2018)12 – ASX reaffirmed that it will
advancing towards select real-life applications proceed with implementing a blockchain
and implementation plans. based system to become operative by the
first quarter of 2021. It will replace the current
Bank of Japan and European Central clearing house electronic subregister system
Bank (Jun 2019)6 – A joint project (Stella) (CHESS) that processes clearing, settlement and
to conduct cross-border payments concluded other post-trade services of cash equities.
that the safety of cross-border payments
could potentially improve using DLT-enabled Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation
payments with synchronized settlement (DTCC) (Oct 2018)13 – The DTCC showed
and locking of funds. that blockchain can support peak trading
volumes in U.S. equity markets.
Bank of Canada and Monetary Authority
of Singapore (May 2019)7 – A joint (Jasper- Accenture (Oct 2018)14 – Accenture
Ubin) project to show that tokenized central provided a solution to allow synchronization
bank money can safely be exchanged in cross- of business processes across blockchain
border payments across different distributed platforms from different technology providers,
ledger platforms. offering corporations the possibility to operate
in a broader ecosystem not bound by a specific
Norges Bank (Feb 2019)8 – Norges Bank choice of a blockchain platform. In addition,
reiterated that it considers introducing a public it demonstrated inter-operability in a
central bank digital currency similar to cash. cross-border environment.

Swedish Parliament (Feb 2019)9 – The Swedish Deutsche Börse and Deutsche Bundesbank (Oct
Parliament in response to a decline in the use of 2018)15 – Deutsche Börse and Deutsche Bundesbank
physical money pressed for moving the e-krona successfully tested securities settlement based on
project one step further. a blockchain-enabled system including executing
security settlement delivery versus payments
Switzerland stock exchange (SIX)
(DvP), free of payment transactions, coupon
(Dec 2018)10 – SIX reiterated that it founded
payments while preserving needed confidentiality
a new company, SDX to develop a fully
of data in a permissioned blockchain setup.
integrated trading, settlement and custody
The study concluded that the blockchain-enabled
platform for digital assets based on
system in principle fulfilled the performance
blockchain-enabled technologies.
requirements and could therefore be considered
a candidate for building a production grade system.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 6

MONEY AND PAYMENT
CHALLENGES
The existing monetary The establishment of new financial institutions
like central counter party clearing houses have
architecture exhibits reinforced concentration of financial risks.
significant pain points.
The significant expansion of central banks’
Money and payment relations are not balance sheets amid policies of quantitative
operating as intended based on the easing in several advanced economies has
repeated incidence of: not led to the intended increase in broader
monetary aggregates. Banks have been
• financial crises
hoarding large reserves as credit expansion
• liquidity shortfalls and inter-bank lending have remained impaired
undermining effective financial intermediation.16
• high transaction costs in cross-border
payments Cross-border payments are marred by
• elevated exchange rate volatility long delays and high transaction costs.
The importance of correspondent banking
• undue delays in securities clearing and
has remained while international claims
settlement
of banks have been declining significantly
• security breaches since the global financial and economic crisis.
The reliance on the dollar to conduct
• market manipulation
international transactions reinforces
The prevailing financial architecture relies dependence on dollar-based financial
on large financial institutions that provide institutions and dollar-denominated financial
the foundations of financial intermediation. assets. This risks creating undue bottlenecks
This poses undue concentration risk and in the distribution of international liquidity.
distributive inequities and inefficiencies. Persistent high exchange rate volatility
illustrates the asymmetries in international
Financial crises impose considerable economic liquidity distribution.
and societal costs. The notion of “too big to
The securities life cycle offers considerable
fail” remains a fundamental concern to address
scope for improving efficiency. T+2 or T+3
systemic risks in finance amid considerable
clearing and settlement delays remain the norm
concentrations of financial institutions’
in many exchanges. The reduction in clearing
activities including for custodial services
and settlement times would allow shortening
nationally and internationally.
risk exposures and freeing-up collateral tied-up
to secure transactions.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 7

Compared with T+3, T+1 would reduce The shortcomings of the current
counter-party exposure in a stress financial architecture are evident:
scenario by up to 70 percent and clearing
• Large financial concentration risks
fund requirements by up to 25 percent in
amid “too big to fail”
average periods and 37 percent in high
volatility periods.17 Prevailing financial market • Ineffective financial intermediation
infrastructures are siloed, hierarchical through bank channel
and impose undue transaction friction. • Elevated transaction costs in
cross-border payments
The analytical exploration of data from
payment transactions has remained • Inefficiencies in securities life cycle
constrained amid limited data content.
• Limited payments data content
The lack of data analysis despite seemingly
vast amounts of data points generated from • High vulnerabilities due to large
payments may unduly hamper economic attack surfaces
policy formulation, oversight and supervision. • Heightened susceptibility
to market manipulation
The concentration of financial activities
by institutions create large attack surfaces.
These shortcomings are expected
The significance of security breaches,
to prompt a broad-based response to seek
cyber-attacks and system failures multiply
alternative approaches to changing incentives
with financial concentration and increase
and mitigating prevailing constraints and
generalized financial vulnerabilities.
vulnerabilities. Blockchain-enabled solutions
Market manipulations like the LIBOR can help meeting those challenges offering
fixing and tax evasion scandals highlight important social gains.
flawed consensus market mechanisms.
Market rigging is possible because a narrow
set of large participants can corner the
market or conduct transactions without
requiring broad-based consensus.
 

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 8

CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL
CURRENCY (CBDC)
Blockchain-enabled CBDC The decentralized nature of blockchain
can bring significant resiliency benefits and
is a tokenized form of central efficiency gains and reduces single points
bank money allowing token- of failure. It also implies that networks can
based exchanges and enhancing expand or contract seamlessly allowing
for flexibility in network relations.
transparency and security
in payments. Secure information sharing
The nature of blockchain greatly
CBDC should be considered as a new central
facilitates secure access and administration
bank money format and another central bank
of access to data while ensuring only
liability as part of the monetary base. CBDC would
needed information is shared. Blockchain
be fully fungible with reserves and bank notes.
also enables information consistency
Any alteration in the monetary base would be a
and facilitates reconciliation of data and
monetary policy decision.
ascertains every permissioned participant
CBDC is to serve financial ecosystems that require in the network sees the same information.
tokenized central bank money for settlement.
Blockchain offers new opportunities to obtain
The innovation of CBDC rests on the combination relevant payments data content bringing
of tokenization, decentralization and secure data analytics to payments and enhancing
information sharing. sophistication for payment tracking, transaction
disputes, AML, ATF and KYC compliance.
Tokenization
Central banks should be technology neutral
Tokens are digital representations of an asset good,
and not favor one payment format over another.
right or currency with properties sufficient to attest
The issuance of CBDC can be a critical catalyst
and transfer ownership. Tokenization records assets,
to facilitate broader-based tokenization. CBDC
goods, rights or currencies on a blockchain-enabled
would enable exchange of tokens in central
ledger. In the securities life cycle, for example,
bank money, lending support and confidence
this would allow for a stock to be sold by a simple
in tokenization. While stable coins and utility
exchange of an asset token for a currency token
settlement coins may offer substitutes for CBDC
in true delivery versus payment. It also offers the
as representations of cash legs in payments, they
possibility that only part of an asset is sold. The
have been subject to undue speculation and may
latter could significantly increase the liquidity of
give rise to counterparty and credit risks and not
assets that are currently immobile or indivisible.
offer the possibility of settlement with finality.
Decentralization
The possibility of a peer-to-peer exchange
enables new possibilities to reducing delays and
costs associated with intermediaries.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 9

Central bank money history During the deliberation to establish a central
CBDC is grounded in the beginnings of central bank in the U.S. Senate in 1913, Victor Morawetz,
bank money. Starting in the nineteenth century, a period leading voice in favor of a decentralized
central banks were established to assume critical system argued:
roles in the adoption of monetary innovation.
“The reason it seemed to be advisable to have
The implementation of unified coinage, in this country what practically amounts to five
cashless or giro transfers and issuance of paper central banks or reserve banks […], is that in this
currencies advanced payments transformation way you are able to avoid the conflict which arises
from metal coin based exchange. Bank from the great difference in the requirements of
notes significantly facilitated exchange and the different sections of the country for credits
were essential to support rapid economic and for currency.”18
development. Under the classical gold standard,
Money and central banking evolved from central
bank notes were mere tokens representing an
banking decentralization under the classical
unconditional claim of convertibility into gold.
gold standard to increasing centralization under
different monetary policy standards (Figure 1).
Central banks were catalysts for
Money evolved from exhibiting high intrinsic value
needed monetary innovation in the past
and being highly decentralized to representing
Central banking evolved from decentralization
no intrinsic value and being highly centralized.
in bank note issuance to centralization.
The value of money shifted from money itself
The shape of central banks was largely
to the institutions managing it.
determined by a perceived conflict between
monetary policy effectiveness and monetary The historical concerns about centralization
stability. The emergence of single central remain. The distribution of money can be
banking systems followed in large part the hampered if intermediation is impaired by undue
example of the Bank of England with the concentration, restricted access to payments
adoption of the 1844 Bank Charter Act with and high transaction costs. Reconsideration for
sole bank note issuance rights granted to e.g. decentralization therefore seems largely warranted
in 1848, the Bank of France; in 1882, the Bank in particular for international payments.
of Japan; in 1888, the Bank of Portugal; in 1897
the State Bank of the Russian Empire; in 1907
the Swiss National Bank. During the nineteenth Figure 1. Monetary policy and centralization19
century, decentralized central banking models
Intrinsic Classic gold
persisted in Canada, Mexico and Scotland value of standard
and to a lesser extent in Germany. money 1870–1914

Gold exchange European

The establishment of the Federal Reserve standard exchange rate
system in the U.S. highlighted concerns about 1922–44 mechanism
from 1973
centralization in central bank money. The 1913
Federal Reserve Act established 12 Federal Bretton
Reserve Banks that maintained broad-based Woods*
1945–73
independence in bank note issuance and Pegging
policy rate settings. The decision to adopt a from 1973
decentralized or “sectional” approach was based Floating
in large part on the assumption that a single from 1973
institution could not effectively respond to the
varying liquidity needs that prevailed in the Centralization

U.S. largely amid its spatial differences.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 10

CBDC use cases Wholesale
The adoption of CBDC offers the possibility
The greatest benefits of CBDC are to be found
to conduct end-to-end settlement in central
in the broader context of reshaping payments
bank money in token-based exchanges. CBDC
relations and rests in the integration of
providing the cash leg, can bring true DvP in
assets and currency on a single ledger in the
the securities life cycle by allowing token for
combination of tokenization, decentralization
token exchange and offering the possibility
and secure information sharing. CBDC attracts
of instantaneous clearing and settlement.20
payment applications in retail, wholesale and
This lowers barrier of entry to payments
cross-border transactions. Considerations differ
enabling greater participation and competition
largely dependent on local circumstances and
in payments which in turn advances payment
preferences. The adoption of CBDC will depend
efficiency and ultimately more equitable access
on set policy objectives.
to payments. Due considerations need to be
given if certain market entities require to retain
Retail
end-of-day netting and settlement provisions.
The substitution of physical bank notes and
coins with CBDC would address increasing Many RTGS systems are due for modernization.
digitalization in retail payments and expedites The relationship between RTGS and CSD-SSS
distribution of currencies to the non-bank implies that considerations for CBDC requires
public. The former responds to public choice an integrated approach.21
concerns that the absence of digital central
bank money may unduly restrict the non-bank Cross-border
public’s ability to use and convert assets into The use of CBDC in cross-border payments
central bank claims amid the decline in the use would enable instantaneous payments
of physical cash. The latter allows central banks irrespective of location. The current
to assume the distribution of currency directly, correspondent banks-based system imposes
for example using mobile phone technologies. several transaction layers that cause
The distribution of digital currencies could play numerous delays and costs.22 CBDC facilitates
a critical role to advance financial inclusion establishment of direct payment relations
where the public is significantly underbanked reducing the need for intermediaries and
or altogether unbanked. CBDC facilitates greatly lowering transaction costs. The
peer-to-peer exchange, allowing to conduct blockchain enabled environment greatly
autonomous transactions replicating simplifies sharing of information and
a physical cash environment. reconciliation through continuous updating
and sharing of records. The availability
of CBDC may attract non-residents
into holding CBDC and conduct cross-
border and off-shore transactions.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 11

CBDC concerns The desired relative holding of central bank
and bank money may be state-of-the-world
The CBDC has the potential to change dependent. While in tranquil times, the
the operating environment of central non-bank public may consider bank and
banks, but it is important that it does not. central bank money to be close substitutes
The facilitation of decentralized exchange (substitutability between central bank and
should in principle not affect central banks’ bank money is high), in situations of financial
ability to pursue price and financial stability. distress, the non-bank public may proceed
towards rapid conversion of bank for central
The effect of CBDC on set monetary policy
bank money (substitutability between central
objectives will depend on the CBDC design.
bank and bank money is low) given the low
While a simple substitution of existing notes,
transaction costs to do so (digital bank runs).
coins and reserves may not have any impact
At the same time, the central bank could always
on monetary policy, additional features like
replenish possible deposit withdrawals and in
the possibility for CBDC to pay interest to the
a digital environment can do so instantaneously
non-bank public (see below), may alter the
where the lending rate could become a policy
propensity to hold central bank money. The
variable. The latter may instill confidence
impact of CBDC on price stability may in large
among the non-bank public reducing
part depend on the propensity to hold CBDC.
the actual probability of runs (Figure 2).
CBDC that is interest bearing (see below) may
broaden the channel for the transmission of
monetary policy. The possibility to pay negative
Figure 2. Bank intermediation
interest would also allow mitigating restrictions
when the policy rate is near the effective lower
Substitution between
zero bound and allow establishing symmetry Low central bank and bank money High
between positive and negative policy rates. Low
Indirect effects may arise if improvements in
liquidity distribution reduce leverage in the
economy and affect the price of collateral.
No bank No bank
The possible perceived substitutability between
central bank and bank money may make the Financial
distress
non-bank public recalibrate its holdings of
central bank money. This could reduce the
non-bank public’s desire to hold bank deposits.
It will also depend in large part on the ability of
Bank run No bank
banks to differentiate bank money from central
bank money and, while there is the potential, it High
must not lead to a reduction in bank deposits
(Figure 2).23 In wholesale transactions, non-
banks may similarly develop preference to
settle in CBDC, increasing the amount of
central bank liabilities.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 12

The increase in the propensity to hold CBDC
International CBDC
will naturally affect the size of the central bank’s
balance sheet. This may incur additional and at The properties of CBDC may increase its
times unwanted risks for the central banks. The attractiveness relative to other currencies
risks would depend on the assets the central and alter the propensity by non-residents
banks would acquire from CBDC issuance. to hold and use a given CBDC. This could
affect the demand for blockchain enabled
The control of monetary aggregates may be currencies relative to conventional ones.
altered if non-residents increase their holdings
of CBDC. While the central bank will always CBDC of a given country could become a
know the location of CBDC it may not be able currency of choice to conduct international
to control its off-shore use. Very large net cross- transactions. The properties conducive to
border movements of CBDC may complicate conduct digital financial transactions could
the conduct of monetary policy and undermine divert use away from conventional currencies.
financial stability. Prudential regulation may
The properties of CBDC may be conducive
be contemplated if undue large net movements
to establishing more international currencies.
of CBDC complicate monetary management.
This would ease prevailing reliance on
CBDC may also be equipped with features
a narrow set of international currencies
constraining off-shore use.
to conduct international transactions.
The transparency of blockchain implies
The greater variety of international currencies
that all transactions are recorded. While
(establishment of a basket of highly liquid
transactions can be made anonymously
instantly transformable reserve or trading
or configured to a varying degree of
currencies) could create a more diversified and
pseudonymity, all transactions are traceable.
equitable international payment infrastructure.
At the same time, blockchain offers important
safeguards to administer dissemination The role of CBDC may be particularly relevant
and access to information that help protect to promote regional local currency payments
privacy. Central banks will have to weigh integration. The substitution of local currencies
privacy concerns against transparency with a common multi-central bank CBDC
gains in view of money laundering, terrorism would further reduce transaction
financing and other illicit transactions. costs and minimize foreign exchange
exposure in international transactions.

Finality in payments
CBDC would need to enable certainty and be
consistent with the notion that currency parity
is maintained. CBDC would need to represent
or be convertible at par into central bank
money. The singleness of CBDC is a necessary
condition to serve effectively in payments and
to settle payments with finality.14 Regulation
may need to be adjusted to allow CBDC to
qualify towards settlement finality.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 13

Crypto-currencies Stable coins are normally fixed to national
currencies, a basket of national currencies or
The emergence of crypto-assets may to some commodities. Stable coins can also be reserved
extent indicate new use cases for currencies. with crypto-assets or tied to a net issuance
Crypto-assets that exhibit currency-like algorithm set to maintain stability against
functions—crypto-currencies—have raised a given numeraire.
important financial stability concerns.
The substitutability of stable coins and central
The notion of private monies denominated in bank money rests in the reserve portfolio and
a unit of account unrelated to a central bank legal certainty of convertibility. A token that
issued currency is novel though historically not conveys unambiguous convertibility certainty
new. The utility of such monies will depend on and is reserved by central bank money should
credible alternatives and use cases. The use be considered “as good as” central bank
of blockchain technologies may offer certain money.25 Stable coins to date do normally
advantages relative to conventional currencies. not exhibit convertibility certainty.
The lack of a regulatory framework for crypto-
currencies remains a significant constraint to Utility settlement coin
broader based acceptance.
The issuance of utility settlement coins serves
Stable coins mostly to conduct monetary transactions with
tokenized currencies within a consortium of
The proliferation of stable coins reflects a banks. The coins feature properties similar
desire for tokenized currency as a stable unit to stable coins and are used to settle inter-
of account. The coins are intended to be used and intra-bank transactions as a substitute
as cash legs in exchanges and support in for central bank money. Utility settlement
particular trading operations of crypto-assets. coins are normally pegged to a national
currency or a basket of national currencies.
Stable coins exhibit features akin to a currency
board and represent a collective investment
scheme. The scheme accumulates high quality
assets funded by the issuance of tokens.
Reserved tokens represent an unconditional
claim on the reserve pool.

Figure 3. Digital media of exchange

Crypto-currencies Privately issued token denominated in non-official currencies

Privately issued tokens backed by reservable assets

Stable coins
and/or official currencies

Token issued by a consortium of private banks to serve as

Utility settlement coins vehicle to intermediate intra-consortium flows. Can be backed
by central bank money

CBDC Tokenized central bank money

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 14

CBDC DESIGN
The properties of CBDC can Accounts-based CBDC
vary significantly. Possible design CBDC based on book entries, accounts-based
features include interest-bearing issuance, is limited to processing reserve
and encompass distribution, balances at the central bank by holders
of reserve accounts and do not allow DvP
technology and information and transactions and peer-to-peer transactions in
can vary from a simple digital assets and currency exchanges. An account-
representation of central bank based system for the general public requires
they have an account at the central bank and
notes and reserves to more
must also allow off-line transactions.
complex instruments.
Bank notes, within well-known limitations,
Tokenized CBDC
allow autonomous, anonymous and The issuance of central bank money into
decentralized peer-to-peer exchange whereby an account at the central bank as a token,
the payment infrastructure is completely also referred to as value-based issuance,
atomized. Bank notes are generally immune allows digital asset for currency exchanges
to failure and undue manipulation, offering in retail and wholesale transactions
instantaneous settlement any time anywhere. and enables autonomous peer-to-peer
transactions. The tokenized currency
CBDC would normally represent tokenized would be held in an electronic wallet on
money issued on a permissioned blockchain a wallet-enabled device that would have
to enable DvP exchanges while preserving to be enabled for off-line transactions.
privacy at the highest security standards.
Tokenization may represent central bank money
or a claim on central bank money. The former
would be an unambiguous substitution of and
fully fungible with existing central bank money.
The latter would represent a digital twin
of central bank money.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 1515

Permissioned and This will provide unprecedented access
to trade payments, liquidity and economic
public blockchain transactions and help enhance the formulation
The data to process transactions can be of monetary and economic policies.
stored on a private or permissioned or public
blockchain. The former would restrict access to Smart contracts
the blockchain to select parties including with The blockchain allows to embed self-
differential access and editing rights. The latter executing or smart contracts to pre-
allows broad-based participation in line with determine certain transactions without
the original intent of the bitcoin blockchain, the intervention of a third party. This may
is normally open source and allows public facilitate strict rules-based decisions in
interaction with the network. The participation financial regulation and other applications.
in the blockchain network needs to be broad
enough to offer sufficient decentralization Delivery versus payment
in network validation. CBDC would normally
CBDC enables tokenization of currency
be based on a permissioned blockchain.
and assets on a shared ledger. This allows
Information sharing direct interactions for all financial market
infrastructure participants with assets and
Blockchain applications exhibit advanced facilitate DvP. CBDC enables immediate
information sharing and data reconciliation finality of settlement and reduces the amount
facilities. A critical feature of blockchain is the of liquidity and collateral needed in securities
establishment of a common set of shared data clearing and settlement and reducing or
to ensure all needed parties can share the same eliminating credit extensions normally used
information. The blockchain facilitates greatly to meet currency requirements in settlement.
the continuous validation and exchange of data.

The information capabilities of blockchain

allows to record and mobilize valuable
transaction data amid the universal record
of all payments transactions.

Figure 4. Blockchain
Permissioned Permissionless

Crypto-currencies X X

Stable coins X X

Utility settlement coins X

CBDC X

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 16

Interest bearing Privacy
CBDC offers the possibility to make positive The recording of all digital transactions
and negative interest payments on currency. implies that transactions are traceable.
This would significantly alter the fundamental However, transactions can be private by using
functionality of central bank money in the pseudonyms. The provisions for privacy can
hands of the non-bank public and could follow permission in some jurisdictions to
broaden the channels for the transmission of enable small amounts to be conducted without
monetary policy. The possibility to pay negative revealing the identity of the exchange parties.
interest may ease the constraints for monetary The blockchain can enable select information
policy at the lower zero bound.26 sharing such that only the parties to an
exchange can view the relevant information
The introduction of interest-bearing central
underlying the exchange.
bank money in the hands of the non-bank
public would establish a direct relationship The flexibility of the blockchain enables
between monetary policy and the non-bank certain entities to view most or all transactions
public. Holders would see their central net of transactions classified as private.
bank balances increase or decrease with The possibility to introduce special nodes to
changes of the central bank policy rate, allow specific network participants to monitor
irrespective of location affecting residents or authorize certain transactions enables the
and non-residents alike. While as a direct building of a tiered information structure that
instrument it could in theory broaden the facilitates monitoring and select access.
transmission channel of central bank policy,
it would represent a significant departure Identity
from current central bank practices.
The relationship between identity and
financial transactions offers the opportunity
Resiliency of a simultaneous solution for identity and
Token based financial ecosystems would payments transactions. Blockchain supports
diversify the financial market infrastructure and management of needed standards to identify
bring greater resilience. It would also broaden customers unambiguously and maintain
and make more equitable the delivery of central customer records to be shared with authorized
bank liquidity. The decentralized nature of parties enabling a seamless infrastructure
blockchain reduces systemic vulnerabilities. between identity and payments. This may
Blockchain-based applications rest on the co- be particularly relevant where the payment
existence of various data sites. This ensures infrastructure is characterized by a low banking
there is no single point of failure. Breakdown of ratio amid a high under or unbanked population.
an individual network node may exclude that
node from participating in the network but does KYC, AML and ATF
not preclude the rest of the network to operate.
Standards of know-your-customer and anti-
money-laundering and anti-terrorism financing
provisions are essential for a safe payment
infrastructure. In payment infrastructures where
banks maintain customer standards, CBDC
would rely on existing standards. Where central
banks engage directly in the distribution of
CBDC, they may set minimum amount-based
standards to limit needed customer checks.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 17

CBDC PROJECTS
Central banks have embarked ECCB CBDC pilot – Eastern Caribbean
Central Bank (2019)32
on a number of CBDC-related
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB)
projects. embarked on a pilot to introduce a digital
version of the EC dollar (DXCD) based on
Around 70 percent of surveyed central
blockchain to be used as generalized medium of
banks are currently or will soon be engaged
payment to reduce cash usage by 50 percent,
in central bank digital currency work.27
promote greater financial sector stability and
The projects have typically performed proofs
support economic growth and development.
of concept to assess the use of blockchain
in a banking environment to address scalability,
Cross-Border Interbank Payments and
resilience, privacy, securities settlement
Settlements – Bank of Canada, Bank of
and cross-border transactions.
England, Monetary Authority of Singapore
(2018)33
E-krona – Central Bank of Sweden (2019)28
The project reviewed root causes of the
The Central Bank of Sweden (Riksbank) is
problem of cross-border interbank payments
procuring suppliers to develop proposals for
to identify “future-state capabilities”. The initial
a digital currency (E-krona) for the non-bank
results of the project show that blockchain-
public. An earlier E-krona project in 2018
enabled platforms extend availability and
concluded that E-krona is compatible with the
payment tracking and offer the possibility of
Riksbank’s task to promote a safe and efficient
a shift away from the existing correspondent
payment system.29
banking model.
Stella – Bank of Japan, European Central Bank
Jasper III – Bank of Canada, Payments
(2019)30
Canada, TMX) (2018)34
The Stella project in phase 3 attested that
The proof of concept demonstrated that a
improvements can be obtained in cross-
blockchain-based system can perform an
border payments in terms of safety by using
irrevocable settlement of equities against
distributed ledger technologies.
central bank currency including successful
Project Jasper-Ubin – Bank of Canada, implementation of a DvP settlement flow of
Monetary Authority of Singapore (2019)31 currency and equities on a shared ledger. The
set-up enabled immediate finality in settlement
The project successfully tested that distributed
and resulted in the ability to instantly reuse cash
ledger technology can be used to make safe
and equity tokens reducing liquidity needs.
cross-border payments by an exchange of
wholesale CBDC across different distributed
ledger platforms.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 18

Project Aber – Saudi Arabia Monetary Ubin II – Monetary Authority of Singapore and
Authority, Central Bank of the United Arab Association of Banks in Singapore (2017)37
Emirates (2019)35 The proof of concept showed that blockchain
The project is a proof of concept for a common is able to satisfy key functionality of a
digital currency between the Saudi Arabia RTGS in terms of volume, liquidity savings
Monetary Authority (SAMA) and the Central mechanisms, gridlock resolution and resilience
Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) and mitigated the risk of a single point of
to conduct cross-border settlement with the failure. The project showed that fund transfers,
opportunity to reduce remittances costs. queue prioritization and gridlock resolution
can all occur in a decentralized manner while
Khokha – South African Reserve Bank (2018)36 preserving the privacy of the transactions.
The proof of concept was aimed at wholesale The project also gave rise to considerations
settlement and affirmed that blockchain that participation in a decentralized network
systems can process the typical volume of must not be equal across participants as
the South African payment system using needs differ. The possibility to deploy a
ISO 20022 standard messages across blockchain enabled system that operates
geographically distributed nodes. The SARB 24x7 had been confirmed even when not
was able to view all transaction details to all network participants are active.
ensure regulatory oversight.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 19

CONCLUSION
Recent advances in blockchain technology
demonstrate that blockchain is ready for select
real-life applications.

Central banks have an opportunity to enable CBDC offers unique payment features
a better payments architecture that connects in the combination of tokenization,
with broader blockchain-based applications. decentralization and secure information
CBDC represents a critical element in sharing. The relationship between tokenization
the evolution of money to facilitate this and decentralization allows to establish new
architecture and provide a level playing field payments relations that offer more diversified
with conventional platforms that can settle and equitable access to payments.
in central bank money.
The proliferation of private sector payment
CBDC supports essential central bank initiatives illustrates the perceived gap in
policy objectives by offering enhanced money developments. The changing functional
payments efficiency and resiliency. The design requirements of money and new expected user
of CBDC may also enable greater scope for experiences reveal that the scope for change
the implementation of monetary policy. The in money is significant.
changing architecture may offer important
Central banks have the opportunity to
liquidity saving that facilitates national and
enable a better performing and more resilient
international financial transactions. The
payment architecture. They have been key
enhanced information capabilities provide
money innovators in the past. CBDC can help
additional critical input for the formulation
ensure central bank money remains relevant
of economic policies.
and future-proof.
Central banks naturally maintain different policy
priorities. CBDC can help address financial
inclusion and be an effective substitute for
physical currency; it can support a compression
of the securities life cycle; it can facilitate
regional or international payments integration
by reducing transaction friction including
information cost and possibly offering a greater
variety of currencies conducive to conduct
international exchange thereby mitigating
undue concentration and dependence on
a narrow set of international currencies.

Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 20

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Copyright © 2019 Accenture. All rights reserved. 23

Authors
Ousmène Jacques Mandeng
Senior Advisor, Global Blockchain Technology
ousmene.mandeng@accenture.com

John Velissarios
Managing Director, Global Blockchain Technology and Security Lead
john.velissarios@accenture.com

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