- The head the Visa crypto division, Cuy Sheffield, has heralded the importance of CBDCs in the coming years
- Sheffield said on Twitter that CBDCs will be “one of the most important trends for the future of money and payments over the next decade.
- Several countries have been developing their own sovereign digital currencies
Visa’s head of cryptocurrency has said that central bank digital currencies (CBDC) will play a vital role in the future of money over the next ten years and that global interest in the concept is only strengthening. Cuy Sheffield used a lengthy Twitter thread to outline his personal theory that blockchain CBDCs would play a huge part in the future of global money and that their development would have “major implications” on geopolitics, privacy, financial inclusion and more.
Visa Crypto Head Acknowledges CBDC Rise
Visa crypto boss Sheffield started the thread by giving his opinion on just how important CBDCs would be going forward, before explaining what the ramifications could be with regard to the way in which governments handle the development of CBDCs:
2/ As governments evaluate CBDC, the path that they decide to take will have major implications for privacy, monetary sovereignty, geopolitics, and financial inclusion, as well as global adoption of crypto dollars and Bitcoin
— Cuy Sheffield (@cuysheffield) July 3, 2020
The Visa crypto head then summed up what everyone in the crypto space has been noticing for some time, that discussion around national stablecoins has been gathering pace in recent months, particularly since the coronavirus accelerated the need for a digital version of currency:
What used to be an occasional paper from an analyst at a central bank every few months has evolved into a steady stream of content from many different experts, academics, and organizations making it harder to keep up with the latest considerations.
CBDCs Making Headlines Worldwide
Developments in the field of CBDCs have been gaining traction in the past weeks alone, with the news that Lithuania is on the verge of launching a trial stablecoin and further discussions on the subject by the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in the US. The opinion of Visa crypto chief Sheffield adds further weight to the notion that, of all the thousands of cryptocurrencies currently in the ecosystem, it will be nationally developed government-backed tokens that will make the biggest impact.
