Overview
- A new position paper finds a consumer CBDC technically feasible but not a “strong immediate need,” with priorities shifting to upgrading payment rails and broadening non-bank access.
- SARB will deepen exploration of a wholesale CBDC to evaluate interoperability, programmability, settlement efficiency and cross-border settlement.
- The central bank warned that fast-growing stablecoin and crypto activity poses financial risks, coordinating rules with National Treasury as the FSCA licenses crypto providers.
- For inclusion to improve, SARB says any future retail CBDC must match cash on offline use, universal acceptance, ease of use, affordability and privacy, noting roughly 16% of adults remain unbanked.
- The move tracks a wider 2025 slowdown in retail CBDC plans globally, influenced by low adoption in early launches in Nigeria, Jamaica and The Bahamas.