Recent private sector initiatives, including stablecoins, indicate the customers’ need for convenient, fast and efficient payments. To meet this need, the central bank should cooperate with the private sector and continue to improve the payment and settlement infrastructures it offers. In this regard, the question as to whether the central bank should issue digital currency (CBDC) or not has become an important issue.
When we look into how we should picture the future of payment and settlement infrastructures in Japan, in a digital society, it is important to consider in what forms the central bank should provide central bank money, and how to improve the private sector’s payment services. These two issues are closely related and should not be examined separately.