Stablecoins are a type of digital asset that purports to maintain a stable value by referencing physical, financial or virtual assets (FSB (2020)). They can be further differentiated into currency-based, financial instrument-based, commodity-based and crypto asset-based stablecoins. There are also algorithmic stablecoins that aim to maintain a stable value via protocols that provide for the […]
Author Archives: Mark McKenzie
10
May
May
Despite the relatively widespread adoption of mobile and internet technology in the Caribbean, retail payments[i] are characterised by “high costs and insufficient access for large swathes of the region’s population (BIS (2020)).” The lack of access to a regular bank account or to other services of financial institutions through mobile devices adversely impacts people from […]
10
Mar
Mar
In February 2021, the price of Bitcoin skyrocketed to over US$58,000 after Elon Musk’s Tesla said it had bought up US$1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency. One major Bitcoin investor said he saw the price rising to US$100,000 by the end of the year. The meteoric rise in the price of Bitcoin is more than 1,000 […]
07
Dec
Dec
In 2020, one of the interesting topics being discussed in parallel to central bank digital currency (CBDC) is programmable money (PM). Like CBDC, programmable money does not appear to have a clear definition. In this post we will discuss our understanding of programmable money, its potential usefulness and possible obstacles to future use. What is […]
26
Nov
Nov
The following is the first in a series of blog posts on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The purpose of this post is a discussion of the sudden surge of interest in CBDCs. Motivations for CBDCs With the evolution of technology, digital payments have been on the rise. As technology has increasingly been leveraged to […]
Financial Stability, Supervision
COVID-19: Financial Stability and Business Continuity Management – Part B
23
Mar
Mar
This is the second of a two-part series of our discussion on COVID-19, financial stability and business continuity management (BCM). In Part A we discussed the steps regulatory authorities can take to implement their own BCM programs, and expect from their regulated FIs, during the current pandemic. This blog post is Part B, and is […]
Financial Stability, Supervision
Coronavirus and the Global Economy: Central Banks’ Policy Responses Update 1
20
Mar
Mar
This post is an update of our blog Coronavirus and the Global Economy: Central Banks’ Policy Responses published on 5 March 2020, chronicling central banks and policymakers’ responses to COVID-19. We note that the COVID-19 outbreak has generated both demand and supply shocks reverberating across the global economy. Among major economies outside of China, the […]
Financial Stability, Supervision
COVID-19: Financial Stability and Business Continuity Management – Part A
18
Mar
Mar
In many conference speeches, training presentations and papers since the end of the Great Financial Crisis, we often heard or read that “we don’t know when or from where the next crisis will come, but it will surely come.” It is too early to say that COVID-19 is or will precipitate another large scale global […]
Financial Stability, Supervision
Coronavirus and the Global Economy: Central Banks’ Policy Responses
05
Mar
Mar
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in China, central bankers and policymakers have kept a very sharp eye on the health of the global economy. In some cases, Covid-19 has been compared to SARS in 2003, which some economists estimate cost the global economy $45 billion. At that time China only represented 8% […]
15
Jan
Jan
On Wednesday, November 27, 2019 I experienced a scary spear-phishing cyber attack. Emotionally I was humiliated. I felt extremely vulnerable and violated. I felt helpless and deeply incapacitated. What is a spear-phishing attack? According to www.kaspersky.com, spear phishing is an email or electronic communication scam targeted towards a specific individual, organization or business. The purpose […]
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