Why We Need Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)
Over 22% of adults in the world have no bank account or payment service account. The few that do are faced with astronomically high fees just to use their own money. The average cost to use an ATM in the United States is $4.92. To put this rate in practice, if you need to spend $100 using an ATM, you will immediately lose 5%. Just to access your own money. Add on account management fees, transfer fees and all the other fees banks tack on and you’ll find that fees can and take a large percentage of your money, especially if you aren’t fortunate enough to make a lot.
We need a more efficient, more economical and more inclusive financial system to address the world’s needs. We need cheap and easy global payments, we need to bank the unbanked and we need to do these things without middlemen. We are on the verge of this being a reality with the advent of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, which have already proven that it’s possible for this to work and can solve these problems. The technology has arrived and now it’s just a matter of time for it to become mainstream.
Central banks can, and most likely will, play a major part in this transition. To get mass adoption and acceptance of this new form of currency, we need governments to endorse it. This is where central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) come in to play.