Conference Agenda

The discourse surrounding Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) involves a diverse range of stakeholders from traditional and non-traditional financial sectors. In this study, we analyzed interviews conducted with four distinct groups of financial experts shaping the global financial system: Federal Reserve representatives (FED), global central bankers represented by the Basel Committee for International Settlements (BIS), the decentralized finance (DeFi) community and the financial regulation experts (Regtech). The research question aims to identify the underlying connections and differences in the CBDC adoption discourse among the stakeholders. We used mixed methods approach and conducted comprehensive content analysis. Factor analysis was performed using WordStat software and the results were extended with natural language processing (NLP) techniques using NVivo 14 software by employing automatic themes detection on aggregated textual data, manual coding and pattern-based auto-coding to map underlying topics and identify underlaying connections within the groups. The common topics identified were payments, settlement efficiency, implications for commercial banks, market infrastructure and cash. Differences in perspectives include DeFi envisioning the future financial system as open source smart contracts-based system, while BIS or FED seeing CBDC as better payment tools which may bring some functionality to wholesale market or Regtech community mostly focuses on payments and risks simulations. By shedding light on differing perspectives regarding CBDCs, this study provides insights for policymakers, industry professionals, and researchers and will lead to more inform decision making bringing together the diverse expertise from various stakeholder groups, helping to agree on the key disagreements lying in smaller details while fostering alignment on shared long-term goals to foster global financial system with innovations and achieve better financial inclusion and market efficiency.