O BCE considera usar o CBDC para evitar o domínio do mercado da BigTech
O Banco Central Europeu (BCE) está considerando o uso de moedas digitais do banco central (CBDC) como meio de conter o domínio de mercado de grandes empresas de tecnologia. O órgão está divulgando um documento de discussão que garantirá uma continuação tranquila do atual sistema monetário. As “externalidades de rede” em torno do uso do meio de troca fiduciário mantiveram o controle dos mercados de pagamentos nas mãos das empresas BitTech. Mas o BCE está sugerindo maneiras de usar o CBDC para romper o domínio e torná-lo um campo de jogo nivelado para todos os jogadores.
O documento reconhece os crescentes interesses na CBDC
O documento de discussão começa reconhecendo o crescente interesse em CBDCs, que também receberam grande interesse de bancos centrais em todo o mundo. Até agora, dois países, Nigéria (eNaira) e Bahamas (Sand Dollar) lançaram seu CBDC.
The report provides detailed information about their potential for adoption and level of growth It also provided several use cases within the rapidly digitizing economy. Additionally, the CBDC ad its increasing interests have resulted in several digital platforms becoming dominant business models while more companies have increased their requirements for software and data. It has also led to an anti-competitive environment that is shifting the digital market power towards the control of tech giants.
The Increasing Dominance Of Digital Currency Issuers
Most users are attracted to these digital platforms simply because others are using them, a situation called network externalities. This can lead to a winner-takes-it-all outcome in the industry. The report revealed that such a situation is not encouraging for the digital industry.
The ECB is also afraid that the dominant platforms that issue digital currencies, especially the Diem, could become dominant issuers of private money through the same network externalities. The fear is that it can challenge the monetary sovereignty of a domestic economy. Once it starts acting as a unit of account, medium of exchange, and store of value, it puts the use of the fiat currency in jeopardy.
But a CBDC can be used to ensure the continuous practical use of public money in the economy. It can e used to resolve issues in financial intermediation and as a means of reducing the cost of payments.
