Fitch: Digital currencies may be disruptive for financial systems

The international rating agency Fitch Ratings recognizes the obvious advantages of digital currencies, but at the same time warns of the presence of risks that can harm financial systems, Report informs.

“Widespread adoption of general-purpose central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may be disruptive for financial systems if associated risks are not managed. These include the potential for funds to move quickly into CBDC accounts from bank deposits, causing financial disintermediation, and for heightened cybersecurity threats as more touchpoints are created between the central bank and the economy,” reads the Fitch report.

The key benefits of retail CBDCs lie in their potential to enhance authority-backed cashless payments with innovations in step with the wider digitalization of society. For central banks in some emerging markets, a key driver for researching CBDCs is the opportunity to bring underbanked communities into the financial system, and improve the cost, speed and resilience of payments.

Several central banks last year announced discussions about the possibility of launching their digital currency. So, this issue was raised, in particular, in Europe, China, Russia, Japan. In particular, ECB chief Christine Lagarde sees the possibility of launching the digital euro around 2025, and China wants to enable foreign athletes and visitors to use the digital yuan during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.