LONDON (Reuters) – A group of central banks on Thursday drafted a potential operations manual for digital money in a bid to strike a balance between maintaining cryptocurrencies and fears the new technology could upend commercial lenders .

Fearful that the explosion of bitcoin and its ilk could weaken their control over money, policymakers from Beijing to Washington are exploring the central bank’s digital currencies known as CBDCs.

And although a widely used digital dollar or euro may still take years, the work of central banks is accelerating as consumers increasingly move away from coins and banknotes in favor of digital payments on debit cards. or credit and cell phones.

All seven central banks – including those of the United States, the United Kingdom and the ECB in the eurozone, but not China – have said that the “retail” CBDC for public use must exploit public and private actors to integrate with existing payment systems.

The technology is expected to be usable with existing domestic payment systems, with adoption strategies tailored to economic conditions on the ground, said central banks, working alongside the Bank for International Settlements.

The existing financial system must be given time to adjust to the introduction of the CBDC, they said, pointing to the risks of what could look like sluggish banking if commercial bank customers suddenly transfer their money. savings towards new technology.

“Whatever the design, developing and managing a CBDC system would be a major undertaking for a central bank,” they said, stressing that the involvement of private operators must be closely monitored to ensure public confidence in the technology.

How a central bank digital currency works:

STABILITY RISKS

Unlike cryptocurrencies like bitcoin which are generally managed by private players, CBDCs would be equivalent to cash, issued and backed by central banks. They differ from electronic money used in billions of daily transactions which is primarily channeled through commercial banks.

The People’s Bank of China is the most advanced among the major economies on the CBDCs and is planning its largest digital yuan test at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve will publish research examining the costs and benefits of a CBDC “soon”, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last week.

Commercial banks, fearing that a retail-oriented CBDC could cannibalize their deposit bases, are trying to influence their design.

Central banks have sought to minimize the threat of retail-oriented CBDCs to lender business models.

“Our analysis suggests that the impacts on bank disintermediation and lending could be manageable for the banking sector,” they said, with any impact likely limited to “plausible” adoption levels.