Digital Currencies and CBDC Impacts on Least Developed Countries

Technology has always been a catalyst of change in monetary and payment systems across the globe. The Fintech-led evolution in the payments systems has seen the concept of currency undergo transformation in an unprecedented way. As technology remains a major catalyst in changing the paradigm of monetary and payment systems, there is also an urgency to study the large-scale macroeconomic impacts of digital currencies and how these could alter the dynamics of current monetary and payment systems and global financial stability. The purpose of this technical paper is to garner a more robust understanding of the potential macroeconomic impacts and related regulatory challenges of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and other digital currency initiatives on developing countries.