Annual payment value of CBDCs to skyrocket 260,000% in 7 years

March 13, 2023

The total value of payments through Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) is expected to reach $213bn annually by 2030, according to a report from Juniper Research.

This value is a major jump from the total value of payments in 2023, which is predicted to hit just $100m. This is a growth rate of 260,000%

Juniper Research claims the growth will be driven by governments leveraging CBDCs to bolster financial inclusion and increase control over how digital payments are made.

The firm claims CBDCs will improve access to digital payments, particularly in emerging economies, where mobile penetration is higher than banking penetration.

Another finding from the new report claimed that by 2039, 92% of the total value transacted via CBDCs will be paid domestically. This is a drop from almost 100% during current pilot stages as of 2023.

Juniper stated that as CBDCs are issued by central banks, they will target domestic payment challenges initially, with cross-border payments will come later as systems become established and links made between CBDCs.

Report author Nick Maynard said, “While cross-border payments currently have high costs and slow transaction speeds, this area is not the focus of CBDC development. As CBDC adoption will be very country specific, it will be incumbent on cross-border payment networks to link schemes together; allowing the wider payments industry to benefit from CBDCs.”

The findings come from Juniper’s latest report, ‘CBDCs & Stablecoins: Key Opportunities, Regional Analysis and Market Forecasts 2023-2030.

There has been a lot of activity around CBDCs in recent weeks. The Bank of Canada recently released a report that claims an offline Central Bank Digital Currency would help to boost financial inclusion.

Earlier in the month, The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced a collaboration with the Digital Financial Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) on a research project to explore potential use cases of CBDC in Australia.

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