Citigroup assisting world government to build digital currencies. Citigroup Chief Executive Michael Corbat said his bank is helping governments “around the world” to create digital sovereign currencies, otherwise known as digital central bank currencies, or CBDC.
Speaking to David Rubenstein at the Bloomberg event on Friday, Corbat made clear that the CBDCs are “inevitable” developments in the future of money. Citigroup, the global banking corporation, is helping to bring about the future.
“We’ve been working with governments around the world in terms of the creation and commercialization” of sovereign digital currencies, he said.
Citi spokesperson Danielle Romero Apsilos said Citigroup is “actively participating” in CBDC consultations being held by central banks. “As a significant practitioner in the payments market with connections to over 200 clearing systems, Citi is providing experience-based insights into the design choices involved in the formulation of digital currencies,” she said.
Citigroup’s press office did not immediately return a request for comment on the extent of the partnerships. Cryptocurrencies will have a role to play even the age of CBDCs, Corbat said Friday. He stopped short of commenting on bitcoin (BTC, +0.48%) specifically. But he said that “some of these currencies will be continued alternatives, continued different sources of payment that people can take advantage of based on the underlying nature of what they are” – a seeming reference to stablecoins.
The Friday disclosure reveals Citigroup as the latest private-sector company active in developing public sector digital currencies. Financial services firms Mastercard and Visa have both launched CBDC initiatives in the past year.
[image: Flickr]
