Digital currencies take centre stage

Since 2008, there has been much speculation about the role of digital currencies in global payments, and the application of the software engineering behind cryptocurrencies built with blockchain.

While speculation continues unabated, there are growing signs that cryptocurrencies are becoming accepted as part of the mainstream payments mix, as detailed in the 2020-2021 editions of the PCM Digital & Payment Card Yearbooks.

The regulatory framework relating to blockchain is still emerging, but the presence of a variety of industry/government working groups in Europe and North America adds further weight to the view that crypto will have some role to play in the future of payments, particularly in relation to the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Central banks around the world have been exploring the creation of their own digital currencies. In November 2019, Banque de France urged Europe to explore the development of a wholesale CBDC.

The most tangible development occurred in October 2020, when the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the ECB, the Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a report, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features, identifying the foundational principles necessary for any publicly available CBDC to help central banks meet their public policy objectives.

Central banks’ interest in CBDC has increased as a potential means of delivering their public policy objectives. Profound, ongoing changes across finance, technology, and society, as well as the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, provided additional impetus for the research of, and experimentation related to central bank digital currency.

The country profiles of the European Yearbook provide the individual background of the evolution of the payment services by country and highlight the emerging CBDC, Digital Payments and Open Banking payment ecosystems.

The Digital & Payment Card Yearbooks give a market leading and comprehensive, up-to-date picture of the payment services and card issuing, acquiring, and processing business within 43 countries plus pan European and Eurasian overviews and more…

The reports are recognised through the payments industry as the most authoritative source of cards and payments business information on the European and Eurasian payment markets.

The report comprises of 2 volumes – Volume 1 covers payments statistics of the 33 European countries and Volume 2 contains the Eurasian payments statistics on 10 countries. The European Payment Cards Yearbook 2020-21 and the Eurasian Payment Cards Yearbook 2020–21 are available to purchase as complete volumes or as individual country profiles.

For further information, please contact us, e.g.

• Table of Contents highlighting key areas of research
• Sample profile outlining detail in the cards and payments section

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