Blockchain Catch-upThis is Charles Brett’s start-of-the-week Enterprise Times ‘blockchain catch-up’ Week 27. Necessarily it is idiosyncratic and selective.

It does not try to be comprehensive but does seek to highlight ‘Quick Takes’ on specific developments as well interesting pieces to read, a listing of some (not all) announcements/press releases and pointers to upcoming events.

Quick Takes – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up Week 27

UBS Reserve Management Seminar Survey

The UBS Annual Reserve Management Seminar Survey presents a depictions of official reserve management activities. UBS conducted the 2021 Survey between April and June 2021 with responses from close to 30 central banks.

Quick Take: Among the highlights was the following about CBDCs. “Nearly 40% of respondents expect wholesale CBDCs to launch within the next 3 years. Crime and money laundering prevention and pressure from crypto currencies are mentioned among the key drivers. 71% of respondents prefer a centralised setup instead of a decentralized (DLT) system. More than 60% of respondents do not believe the launch of (a) CBDC will lead to a diminished role of the US$. More than 50% do not know yet what will be the impact of a digital Yuan on the internationalisation of the RMB.”

The digitalisation of money

This paper – by Markus K. Brunnermeier, Harold James and Jean-Pierre Landau – discusses key questions and economic implications of digital currencies. One insight is that digital currencies feature innovations that will unbundle the functions served by money (store of value, medium of exchange and unit of account). This will make competition among currencies fierce. In addition, digital currencies may also evolve to specialise and then compete exclusively as exchange media or exclusively as stores of value.

Quick Take: This is a paper to read and reflect on. For example, it states “The international character of these digital currencies will make both emerging and advanced economies vulnerable to ‘digital dollarization’, in which the national currency is supplanted by a digital platform’s currency rather than another developed country’s currency. … Digital currencies may also cause an upheaval of the international monetary system: countries that are socially or digitally integrated with their neighbors may face digital dollarization, and the prevalence of systemically important platforms could lead to the emergence of digital currency areas that transcend national borders.” Net, net: CBDCs – and other forms of digital currency – will likely have deeply unexpected effects.

7 pieces to read – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up Week 27

Selected announcements/press releases/opinions – Charles Brett’s Blockchain Catch-up Week 27

  • Bloomberg’s Money Stuff: blockchain lets you bet on stocks (opinion)
  • Stillman Professor on his new book exploring possibilities of Blockchain in publishing (announcement)
  • Everything you need to know about blockchain interoperability; the concerns around the lack of interoperability are a false flag by the bears (opinion)
  • Blockchain bill would spur adoption across agencies (legal)
  • VeriBlock Foundation discloses MESS vulnerability in Ethereum Classic Blockchain; this vulnerability would render Ethereum Classic perpetually unable to confirm transactions (announcement)
  • China’s digital yuan deploys at speed, leaving dust in its path (opinion)
  • Solve.Care launches the open global blockchain telehealth network in 20 countries (announcement)
  • The 2021 mobile wallets report from Boku (report).

Selected upcoming events

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