# Team A
**What are alternative strategies to encourage or offer CBDC for vulnerable groups such as aged, disabled, and poor population.**

> **Hint**: Imagine scenario if they decide to remove cash and replace them with CBDC. How about people who don’t have physical identity

- CBDC could provide financial inclusion for the unbanked who access smartphones
- CBDC can help users access current digital payment tools at considerably lower or zero costs without a bank account.
- The market for payments is two-sided, and there is a dynamic feedback loop where consumers benefit from increased merchant acceptance and vice versa. Incentivizing both households and merchants is important to achieve widespread acceptance of CBDC.
- The Bank of Jamaica launched the Small/Micro Merchant Incentive Program that rewards the first 10,000 merchants who sign up for the JAM-DEX CBDC platform with a one-time financial incentive
- CBDC should have no or low fees for small transactions.
- Cash transactions are final and irrevocable once the physical exchange takes place. This finality provides certainty and does not expose the user to the credit risk of financial intermediaries. Additionally, receiving cash allows immediate access to the funds; any delays would disproportionately affect the poor and financially excluded
-Less stringent identification requirements can be applied to financially excluded population, for example disadvantaged individuals for example tiered customer due diligence
-Feature phones and store-value cards for the digitally less literatate population at lower costs
-Financial incentives: The government of Uruguay introduced a loyalty program that rewards users of its digital currency, e-Peso, for making purchases with it.28 The Central Bank of the Bahamas has committed to a giveaway of $1 million in Sand Dollars, their CBDC, to the first adopters through 2024.
- Implementing stronger cybersecurity and protection
- Public communications should aim to educate and demystify any concerns individuals may have
# Team B
**What if CBDC is designed to allow anonymous transaction? What are benefits and drawbacks?**
>**Hint**: Remember that we want to keep track of transactions, what if the block does not record user information (i.e., no name).

Benefits:
* Protect users privacy, pursuit of a more just and safe financial system
* Enable central banks to conduct forms of unconventional monetary policy more easily
* Protect human right
* More likely to replaced physical cash and apply for wider use

Drawbacks:
* Might use in large-scale criminal activity
* Incur high transaction costs

So, one of the main goals of CBDC is to provide high privacy services for enterprises and consumers, protect transaction privacy and reduce associated system costs.
Digital currencies have long been a target for hackers and thieves, so a CBDC issued by a central bank would attract those same groups of thieves. If assets and transaction information in the system are compromised, anonymous transactions make recovery more difficult.
The anonymous transaction volume of CBDC has a reasonable ceiling ($200,000), which to some extent avoids too serious risks and losses.

# Team C
**Why private e-money such as Diem developed by Meta was not successful?**
>**Hint**: Diem was previously known as Libra.

* Scrutiny from Regulators: Diem faced intense scrutiny from regulators around the world. Governments and financial authorities expressed concerns about the potential for money laundering, financial stability risks, the possibility of undermining sovereign currencies, and the potential for misuse of personal data.
* Lack of Trust: Given Facebook's history with privacy and data use concerns, there was significant skepticism from the public and regulators about the company's entry into the financial sector.
* Potential for Monopoly: There was worry that Facebook's large user base could lead to a monopoly in the digital currency space, potentially sidelining traditional financial institutions and central banks.
* Impact on Monetary Policy: Some feared that a widely adopted private currency like Diem could interfere with national monetary policies and economic sovereignty.
* Loss of Key Backers: Major financial and payment companies such as PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and Stripe withdrew their support from the project. The loss of these initial backers reduced the consortium's industry expertise and potential for widespread adoption.
* Emerging Alternatives: The space for digital currencies is highly competitive, with various alternatives, including established cryptocurrencies and other stablecoins, already in use.
* Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs): Many central banks started exploring or developing their own digital currencies, which could potentially offer a more trusted and regulated alternative.
* Scalability and Performance: There were questions about whether Diem's underlying blockchain technology could scale effectively while maintaining high performance and security standards.
* User Adoption: While Facebook has a vast user base, translating that into active users of a new and complex financial product like Diem is not guaranteed.
*

# Team D
**The introduction of CBDC could reduce the role of commercial bank. What are potential strategies that commercial bank to sustain their business models.**
>**Hint**: Imagine scenario if CBDC follows direct distribution model that allow end-user to deposit CBDC with central bank.

Adaptation: Banks can adapt to the changing landscape by offering services related to CDBCs. This may include providing wallets for storing CBDCs, fasilitating CBDC transactions, or offering CBDC-based savings in investment produtcts.

Diversify services: Commercial banks can expand their range of services to offer value-added solutions that go beyond traditional banking. These could include wealth management, financial advisory, insurance, and other financial products and services.

Regain Trust: Rebuild and reinforce trust with customers by enhancing transparency, security, and customer support. This is crucial, especially in a landscape where people may have the option to deal directly with the central bank.

Digital Wallets and Payment Solutions:Develop digital wallets and payment solutions that can interface with CBDCs and other cryptocurrencies. This allows banks to stay relevant in the evolving payment ecosystem.

# Team F
**What are countries that could not implement or decide to drop out CBDC? And explain why.**

Denmark,
Already have a “secure and effective” payments in place.

Japan,
Strong Preference for cash, high ratio of bank account holding

Ecuador,
legistlation issue -the law stated that e-payment systems should be outsourced to private banks. They believe digital euro could disrupt privacy and democracy

Finland,
More expensive than debit card, was initially free but fee added later.

Senegal,
Weak cross border learning in Africa and not in demand.

~~# Team E
**What are factors or financial activity that the central bank need to consider when you integrate CBDC to cross-border payment**
>**Hint**: See example CBDC projects listed in the paper. There are a few start researching cross-boarder payment.

put your note here~~

~~# Team G
**Direct vs Indirect CBDC. Which CBDC design should we go for? Compare strengths and weakness of each CBDC distribution strategy.**

put your note here

~~# Team H
**Do we really need to build CBDC on blockchain? Explain why and give us example of CBDC that does not relies on blockchain.**
>**Hint**: See slide with the article from Mckinsey.~~

put your note here~~