Central Bank Digital Currencies and The Emerging Markets: The Currency Substitution Challenge

In this paper, I discuss the implications for emerging countries of the adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in advanced jurisdictions, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Euro Zone. The analysis identifies benefits as well as costs. Among the former, one of the most important is lower costs for migrants’ remittances. Some of the costs of global CBDCs are associated with currency substitution, sudden currency depreciations, and lower seigniorage. At the global level, a smooth rollout of CBDCs in center countries requires international coordination. In addition, emerging countries will benefit from the implementation of stronger macroprudential regulations