Digital currencies and fintech: research

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Understanding the benefits and risks of digital currencies and electronic payments is important because new technologies and new players could affect the financial system. This in turn could influence how we work to fulfill our core functions. For this reason, we closely monitor fintech developments.

The Bank is conducting research related to a central bank digital currency (CBDC). This is part of its contingency planning to be ready to issue a CBDC in the future if the need were to arise.

Research by Bank staff is produced independently from the Bank’s Governing Council. It may therefore differ from official Bank views. The views expressed in research papers are solely those of the authors. No responsibility for them should be attributed to the Bank.

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On the Programmability and Uniformity of Digital Currencies

Staff Working Paper 2025-18 Jonathan Chiu, Cyril Monnet
Central bankers argue that programmable digital currencies may compromise the uniformity of money. We develop a stylized model to examine this argument and the trade-offs involved in circulating programmable money.

A Retail CBDC Design for Basic Payments: Feasibility Study

Staff Discussion Paper 2025-9 Sriram Darbha, Cyrus Minwalla, Rakesh Arora, Dinesh Shah
We outline possible system architectures for an online retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) and identify one well-suited for basic payments. We analyze OpenCBDC 2PC, a representative system, finding such designs to be feasible, although some areas require further investigation. Our framing highlights other promising architectures for a retail CBDC.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Central bank research, Digital currencies and fintech JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E51, O, O3

Risk-Free Uncollateralized Lending in Decentralized Markets: An Introduction to Flash Loans

Staff Discussion Paper 2025-6 Jack Mandin
A flash loan is a special type of uncollateralized loan with zero default risk. I document the use for flash loans across major blockchains that are Ethereum-Virtual-Machine-compatible. Flash loans expand access to liquidity, and highly sophisticated actors use them for many practical applications.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G0, G1, G2

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