Claims

Factual · Economics and markets

“many central banks, starting now with the Chinese one, the Swedish, but even the eurozone, are starting to think about creating a central bank digital currency,"”

Nouriel Roubini, economist, in Yahoo Finance interview · 13 November 2020 · Nouriel Roubini admits Bitcoin could be a partial store of value (Forbes)

Many central banks, including China's, Sweden's and the eurozone's, are starting to consider creating a central bank digital currency.

Mostly true True in substance, wrong in a detail.

What would count as true or false

Judged as of 2020-11-13. True: by that date the People's Bank of China, Sveriges Riksbank and the European Central Bank / Eurosystem had each publicly begun work on a central bank digital currency (research, a published report, a consultation or a pilot), and a substantial number of other central banks were also doing so (for example as shown in a BIS survey). Mostly true: all three named banks were doing such work but the evidence on 'many' other central banks is thinner, or one named bank's work had gone beyond the 'starting to think' stage (for example, already running pilots). Mixed: only two of the three named banks had begun such work. Mostly false: only one of the named banks had. False: none of the three had publicly begun any CBDC work by that date.

Evidence

1. ECB intensifies its work on a digital euro European Central Bank · 2 October 2020

   “The European Central Bank (ECB) today published a comprehensive report on the possible issuance of a digital euro, prepared by the Eurosystem High-Level Task Force on central bank digital currency (CBDC) and approved by the Governing Council.”

2. The Riksbank to test technical solution for the e-krona Sveriges Riksbank · 20 February 2020

   “The Riksbank is conducting a pilot project with Accenture aimed at developing a proposal for a technical solution for an e-krona.”

3. Digital money – the Riksbank’s e-krona pilot Sveriges Riksbank · 29 October 2020

   “The Riksbank is investigating whether it would be possible to issue kronor to the general public in digital form, an ‘e-krona’.”

4. The Riksbank to test technical solution for the e-krona Sveriges Riksbank · 20 February 2020

   “There is currently no decision on issuing an e-krona, how an e-krona might be designed or what technology might be used.”

5. Digital money – the Riksbank’s e-krona pilot Sveriges Riksbank

   “The Riksbank is investigating whether it would be possible to issue kronor to the general public in digital form, an ‘e-krona’.”

6. Digital money – the Riksbank’s e-krona pilot Sveriges Riksbank

   “Digital central bank money internationally”

7. Report on a digital euro European Central Bank · 2 October 2020

   “On 2 October 2020 the ECB published a report on a digital euro.”

8. Riksbank develops an e-krona in a test environment Sveriges Riksbank · 13 December 2019

   “The Riksbank has implemented a public procurement of a technology supplier to the e-krona pilot project and intends to sign an agreement with consulting company”

9. China’s digital currency push faces uphill battle The Daily Star

   “In October 2020, China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, started a pilot program involving the public.”

10. [PDF] Results of the third BIS survey on central bank digital currency Bank for International Settlements (BIS Papers No 114, by Codruta Boar and Andreas Wehrli) · January 2021

    “Over the last four years, the share of central banks actively engaging in some form of CBDC work grew by about one third and now stands at 86%”

Reasoning

All three named central banks had publicly begun CBDC work by 13 November 2020. The ECB published its digital euro report on 2 October 2020 (E1, E7). The Riksbank was running an e-krona pilot with Accenture, according to notices from December 2019 and February 2020 (E2, E8). The People's Bank of China started a public pilot in October 2020 (E9). The BIS survey published in January 2021 says 86% of central banks were doing some form of CBDC work, which supports 'many' (E10). However, both China and Sweden were already running pilots, so their work had gone past the 'starting to think' stage. Under the criteria, that makes the claim mostly true rather than fully true.

Cite this claim

Nouriel Roubini, “Many central banks, including China's, Sweden's and the eurozone's, are starting to consider creating a central bank digital currency.” (said 13 November 2020). Verdict: mostly true. Reliability API, claim c_44917c53964f, method 0.1.0+c876030c. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_44917c53964f