Take the plunge! CBDCs in Asia, TikTok, Killer AI's, AI Trust, Cybersecurity and Geopolitical Risk in the News
Stuff that matters for our shared digital future.
Artwork of the day: Il Nuotatore (The Swimmer), 1930, Giulio D’Anna
Futurism (Italian: Futurismo, Italian: [futuˈrizmo]) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane, and the industrial city.
Giulio D'Anna's Il nuotatore (The Swimmer) breaks up movement into Faceted Planes. The image captures a diver suspended in the air seconds before making a splash. Rays of light seem to hit his body at various points as if gravity was doing its job and pulling the muscular man down.
This week we have a PACKED newsletter with no less than six stories!
We take the “plunge” into macro geopolitical topics that ask fundamental questions about our relationship with AI, Cybersecurity, and “Terminator-like” extinction events!
CBDCs are coming.
Let me say it upfront: I saw CBDC as a critical tool some four years ago, and I’m pleased to see it making progress, with 134 countries exploring it worldwide. See the latest progress!
TikTok! What a week!
What problem will the proposed TikTok legislation solve?
Cybersecurity is key!
Do you think your bank is doing a good job of protecting you and your data? Wrong! They underfund cybersecurity.
AI poses risks just like Terminator!
This is a big-picture review of how we need to control AI now, or it will create extinction event risks for all of us. This is no joke! With thinking computers only 18 months away, reality is mimicking the movies.
Trust in GenAI Do you trust AI?:
AI creates deep fakes and fake news, so do you trust it? Most of us don’t! What does that mean for your bank’s chatbot?
Geopolitical Risks:
Geopolitics has a massive impact on financial markets, and BlackRock’s risk indicator is still in the red!
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CBDCs Are Coming, Like it or Not, and Will Change Our World
The map above is filtered by CBDC “Pilots” (phase where CBDC is built and in testing)
Note how the green is all concentrated in the East! Asia will be the first region with active CBDC cross-border trade. Look for this trade to be centered in Hong Kong!
🔥Click this link for the new CBDC tracker and to see the great animations! 🔥
As the author of a book on CBD,C I’m delighted to see the progress that they are making across the globe.
The Atlantic Council’s CBDC tracker has just been updated and covers their incredible global spread—except in the US!
I am putting these key finding up-front in my newsletter as some are quite shocking!
👉READ KEY FINDINGS!
🔹134 countries and currency unions, representing 98 percent of global GDP, are exploring a CBDC. In May 2020, only 35 countries were considering a CBDC. A new high of 68 countries are in the advanced phase of exploration.
🔹19 of the Group of 20 (G20) countries are now in the advanced stages of CBDC development. Of those, eleven countries are already in the pilot stage. This includes Brazil, Japan, India, Australia, South Korea, South Africa, Russia, and Turkey.
🔹3 countries have fully launched a CBDC—the Bahamas, Jamaica and Nigeria. The Eastern Caribbean Currency Union—consisting of 8 countries—halted availability of DCash and will begin a new pilot.
🔹There is a new high of 36 ongoing CBDC pilots, including the digital euro. The European Central Bank (ECB) is now in the preparation phase, conducting practical tests with some transactions being settled in a controlled environment. The digital euro is in a 2-year preparation stage, ending in 2025.
🔹Progress on retail CBDC has stalled in the US. There is a widening gap between the US and G7 banks, including the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan. CBDC has become an issue in the US presidential campaign.
🔹In every country with an advanced retail CBDC project, CBDCs are intermediated, meaning they are distributed through banks, financial institutions, and payment service providers.
🔹🔥Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—the founding members of BRICS—are in the pilot phase of CBDC exploration. Several of the new members—Saudi Arabia, Iran and the UAE—are also developing cross-border wholesale CBDCs. Since last year, BRICS has actively promoted developing an alternate payments system to the dollar.
🔹Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting G7 sanctions response, wholesale CBDC developments have doubled. There are currently 13 cross-border wholesale CBDC projects, including mBridge, which connects China, Thailand, the UAE, and Hong Kong, and will enter a new phase, expanding to 11 more countries this year.
🔹🔥As the largest CBDC pilot in the world, China’s digital yuan (e-CNY) reaches 260 million wallets across 25 cities. Since 2022, it has been used in a range of settings from transit and healthcare to buying crude oil. In 2024, the pilot is focused on optimizing oversees tourist use and expanding cross-border applications.
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👍Enjoyed your recent interview with Dr. David Oualaalou! Re Cybersecurity - In banks do we trust? Maybe not. Maybe have a transnational body (IEEE/UNIDO+) define standards for enterprising third-parties to develop to (let it be Open Sourced!). Evolve from having personal security teams for the rich & famous - commercialize & digitize it for the common folks. Common protection from scams, frauds, financial theft, ID theft, misinfo, disinfo, etc. A personal digital security guard (AI enhanced, localized layer for offline shielding, yet crowd & cloud connected as needed, etc). From Cashless (digitization of money) to Digitization (of any good or service) (music, photos, video, communications, knowledge stores... security, mental labour, physical labour, UBI, PEACE ON EARTH - let's hope! 🤞)