A senior Bank of Canada official has called on central banks around the world to speed up work on creating digital currencies.
Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Timothy Lane says Covid-19 has meant more people are shopping online, and that shift in spending habits coupled with the speed of technological developments has narrowed the window for central banks to deliver on a digital currency.
Lane’s comments are a reversal from late February, just before the pandemic struck, when the Bank of Canada Deputy Governor said there wasn't a compelling case to issue a central bank-backed digital currency.
Canada’s central bank has acknowledged that it is working on its own digital currency amid concerns that, should digital currencies become widely used in Canada, it would erode the Bank of Canada’s ability to manage monetary policy.
Lane said that the central bank would have to hold widespread consultations to understand what Canadians would want in a digital currency before the Bank of Canada could issue one.
