Cash and Car Keys, Petrol and Payments

Dateline: Washington DC, 21st June 2023.Digital cash, just like digital car keys, has to work offline. That is, I need to be able to get into my car and drive off where there is no mobile signal and I need to be able to buy milk if the internet is down or if the power is out at the grocery store.ShareOffline is MandatoryAny kind of mass market cash replacement or cash augmentation product has to have one particular characteristic: It has to work offline. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub Nordic Centre has published a comprehensive handbook exploring key aspects of how central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could work for offline payments, by which they mean payments made without being connected to the internet, either temporarily or because of coverage limitations. The handbook, produced as part of the BIS Project Polaris, intends to help central banks considering the potential implementation of CBDCs with offline functionality to take into account a complex matrix of issues including security, privacy, likely risks, the types of solution, their maturity and applicability, and operational factors. The handbook, compiled in partnership with Consult Hyperion, addresses these issues as well as objectives for resilience, inclusion, cash resemblance, accessibility and other desired attributes.Subscribe nowAt the same time, the results of Kantar focus group research for the European Central Bank (ECB) included the nugget that the public perceived offline payments to be “the most innovative digital wallet feature”. This was because they saw it as being useful in certain…Cash and Car Keys, Petrol and Payments