DEA Quarterly Insights: Shaping the Future of Digital Money | Q3 2023

Welcome to the latest edition of the Digital Euro Association's Quarterly Insights! 

This comprehensive blog post presents a concise overview of our association's activities and achievements over the past three months. As we continue to navigate the ever-changing landscape of digital money, this summary highlights our strides in promoting financial innovation, fostering education, and exploring groundbreaking initiatives.

Join us on this exciting journey as we delve into the key milestones and accomplishments that shape the future of digital money!

New Members 

In Q3 2023, the DEA welcomed STASIS as its lite member. STASIS is a European fintech company that designs user-oriented tools allowing institutional and retail clients to handle digital currencies and public blockchains with elegant simplicity. STASIS issues EURS, the most transparent stablecoin originating and operating in Europe.

Distinguished People

German Ministry of Finance

Valentin Seehausen (Left), Anne-Sophie Gógl (Centre), Jonas Gross (Right)

On August 23rd, the DEA delegation had the incredible opportunity to engage with the German Ministry of Finance (Bundesministerium der Finanzen) in a discussion about the future of digital money. The key highlights of our discussion included: presenting the DEA’s perspective and expertise, exploring the possibilities of a well-designed digital euro, and presenting insights for the digital euro legislative proposal. This exchange exemplifies the power of collaboration and knowledge-sharing on the path to innovation. As we navigate the future of digital money, it's heartening to see diverse stakeholders coming together to shape tomorrow's financial landscape.

DEA Publications

Banking on Tokens - A Primer on Tokenized Commercial Bank Deposits

Launched on the 3rd of May, 2023, the latest Private Digital Euro Working Group was chaired by Juan Gutierrez and Anurag Dubey.

Our working group navigated the complex topic of Tokenized Deposits, exploring the transformation of traditional banking through digitization. The resulting paper, "Banking on Tokens: A Primer on Tokenized Deposits", reveals the implications of tokenizing deposits on financial stability, privacy, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes, as well as their potential impact on commercial banks.

Delving into the intricacies of this innovative fusion, the paper offers a comprehensive primer into the potential of Tokenized Deposits, alongside unique considerations on how they could complement and co-exist with other forms of digital money.

Download the paper here: https://home.digital-euro-association.de/working-groups

To listen to the complimentary podcast episode, discussing the publication further:
https://dea-podcast.podigee.io/50-new-episode

Commentary on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of the digital euro

Also, in August 2023, our Digital Euro Regulation Working Group was instrumental in shaping the discourse surrounding the establishment of the digital euro within the European Union (EU) with particular focus on the regulatory framework in which it will operate. 

Our working group meticulously produced a comprehensive commentary that delves into the EU's Regulatory Proposal for the digital euro, providing a detailed analysis that highlights the challenges, opportunities, and broader implications for the European financial landscape. This document, available for download in both English and German, serves as a synthesis of expert insights and actionable recommendations, crafted to navigate stakeholders through the complexities of potentially integrating the digital euro into the EU's financial ecosystem. 

The DEA remains committed to contributing to this revolutionary conversation, ensuring that the digital euro's potential integration is both seamless and advantageous for the European financial landscape.

DEA Events 

DEA Digital Money Academy on Central Bank Digital Currencies

The Digital Euro Association hosted another iteration of the Digital Money Academy on retail CBDCs. Among the lecturers were Miguel Fernandez Ordóñez (68th Governor of the Bank of Spain), Tamara Ferreira Schmidt (Executive Director at Digital Euro Association), Ruslan Konurbayev (Business Analyst at the Payment and Financial Technologies Development Center of the National Bank of Kazakhstan), John Kiff (Research Director at SODA) and Péter Fáykiss (Head of the Digitalization Directorate at Magyar Nemzeti Bank). The lectures covered an introduction to CBDCs, lessons learned from Central Banks, the CBDC manifesto and an overview of the current status quo of CBDCs worldwide.

Watching the academy on demand is only accessible to attendees.

DEA Roundtable

On August 29th, we gathered online for a thought-provoking discussion. The event kicked off with a keynote by the Digital Euro Association, providing valuable insights into the status of the Euro CBDC. Our exclusive roundtable provided a platform for members to exchange ideas, share industry developments, and discuss pressing topics. Among the attendees were Antony Welfare (Ripple), Brett Walton (Fluency), Claus George (DZ Bank), Angelika Nitsch (DZ Bank), Anikó Szombati (Central Bank of Hungary), Ning Ding (BaFin), Cizar B. Brahim (DEA Expert) and Daniel Szego (DEA Expert).

CBDCs & Privacy: Considerations for an International Landscape

Together with the Digital Dollar Project, the Digital Pound Foundation, the Digital Euro Association hosted a high-profile panel on the topic of CBDCs and Privacy. In this panel, Dr. Jonas Gross (Chairman, Digital Euro Association), David Rennie (Digital Pound Foundation), Steve Pannifer (Managing Director, Consult Hyperion) and Jennifer B. Lassiter (Executive Director, The Digital Dollar Project) dove into the tensions between privacy preservation and policy compliance within the context of CBDCs. They also explored the implications for cross-border payments, the alignment with the protection of fundamental human rights, and the challenges posed by cross-jurisdictional interoperability.

Watch the panel stream 👇

Events DEA attended

In the month of July, DEA had the opportunity to participate in the following events:

• Digital Securities & Tokenization Conference 2023
  Panel Discussion: Infrastructure to Scale Digital Securities - Startups vs. Banks?
  
  
• Frankfurt School Blockchain Center
  Digital Euro – Waiting for the ECB Decision in Autumn
  
  
• The Kenya Blockchain & Crypto Conference 2023
  Expert Insights on Blockchain “Exploring DeFi, NFTs, CBDCs, Regulation, and Institutional Adoption

September:

• CBDC Conference 2023
  Presentation: From Concept to Reality: Exploring the path to CBDC adoption
  Panel Discussion: Governor’s Panel: CBDC from a central bank's perspective
  Panel Discussion: Digital Identity and CBDC, Web 3 and CBDC, Digital Public Infrastructure, Offline Digital Banknotes 
  Panel Discussion: User-centric design of a CBDC

Read the recap here: https://blog.digital-euro-association.de/recap-of-the-cbdc-conference-2023 

DEA Podcast

Banking on Tokens by the DEA Digital Euro Working Group

In this episode, the DEA working group chairs discuss the content of their newly published paper on tokenized commercial bank deposits, touching on topics such as regulatory considerations, benefits, risks and use cases. The series of recommendations on tokenized deposits aimed at policymakers, central banks, and financial institutions are also included.

Listen to the episode here: https://dea-podcast.podigee.io/50-new-episode

This Month in Digital Money – News Digest July 2023

In this monthly news digest, Sarah recaps the news in the digital money space in July 2023. Which model does the Banque de France deem most promising for wCBDCs? Which concerns does Russia's digital currency raise? What does the BIS report on CBDC lessons learned reveal? 

Listen to the episode here: https://dea-podcast.podigee.io/52-new-episode

Sand Dollar Chief Architect Shares Insights Into Bahama's CBDC

In this episode, NZIA's Chief Architect of the Sand Dollar U-Zyn Chua shares his view of Bahama's CBDC, its inception through the tender process that NZIA underwent together with IBM, and the generally positive attitude toward blockchain technology as a base layer. U-Zyn shares how much leeway was given in designing the Sand Dollar, how the CBDC is used today as a settlement asset and how he pivoted from being a CBDC architect to becoming the co-founder of CakeDeFi.

Listen to the episode here: https://dea-podcast.podigee.io/53-new-episode

This Month in Digital Money – News Digest August 2023

In this monthly news digest, Sarah and Conrad recap the news in the digital money space in August 2023. Is the ECB using real funds for the wholesale CBDC trials? What rules apply to stablecoins issued under the new regulatory framework in Singapore? Which bank is launching a gold-backed digital token?

Listen to the episode here: https://dea-podcast.podigee.io/56-new-episod

Cryptobanknotes & CBDC Cash from A to Z

In this episode, Andrei Lipkin gives an introduction to crypto banknotes and CBDC Cash and how they compare to banknotes as we know them today. How does CBDC Cash fit in with CBDC? Are they anonymous? What edge do they have over regular banknotes, CBDCs or cryptocurrencies?

Listen to the episode here: https://dea-podcast.podigee.io/54-new-episode

CBDCs & Privacy: Considerations for an International Landscape

In this episode, the guests from the Digital Pound Foundation, the Digital Dollar Project, the Digital Euro Association and Consult Hyperion discuss how CBDCs can guard fundamental human rights in domestic and international settings. Among the 130 countries currently exploring CBDCs, distinct values are emerging, with some placing higher importance on transactional anonymity for amounts below a certain threshold, guaranteeing complete irretrievability of associated data. Others prioritize centralization and traceability. How can this fragmented landscape become interoperable? Is achieving cross-jurisdictional interoperability feasible, and how can we navigate this path?

Listen to the episode here: https://dea-podcast.podigee.io/55-new-episode

This Month in Digital Money – News Digest September 2023

In this monthly news digest, Sarah and Conrad recap the news in the digital money space in September 2023. What does the CBDC Anti-Surveillance Act in the US entail? How is the Citi Token Services set up? Which cross-border advancements are planned for the e-Yuan? How are the newly issued tokenized fund shares by Metzler Asset Management regulated?

Listen to the episode here: https://dea-podcast.podigee.io/58-neue-episode

The DEA remains committed to pioneering the future of digital money, driven by innovation, collaboration, and a shared vision of a digitally empowered world. As we look ahead to the next quarter, we are excited to embark on new endeavors, expand our horizons, and continue making a positive impact. Thank you for being a part of our journey!

⏪ Previous Edition: https://blog.digital-euro-association.de/dea-quarterly-insights-q2-2023  

⏩ Next Edition: https://blog.digital-euro-association.de/dea-quarterly-insights-q4-2023