Episode 230 - Talking Central Bank Digital Currencies with Jim Cunha, Former EVP, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Payments on Fire™

Launching a payment product requires big moonshot thinking alongside a lot of agonizing over the details. Understanding the market, the customer journey, and the technology - from every angle requires patience, persistence, and a beginner’s mindset to learn from every success and failure. Thinking about launching a new form of currency, however, is on another level altogether.

There’s an entire population of a country to consider - what does each segment of the population require to be able to use the currency? Then, there is the currency’s role in supporting the economy. How will a new currency be protected from counterfeiting, and what controls will be required to prevent its misuse? How will it work with legacy payment systems and commercial banks? And how will it adhere to laws in place today and be prepared for tomorrow? Last but certainly not least, which technologies will enable all of these things and more?

These were just some of the thoughts bubbling through my mind when I sat down with Jim Cunha, former EVP at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, to discuss the capstone project of his career - Project Hamilton - and the questions he and his team sought to answer as they embarked on their CBDC experiment. I hope you enjoy hearing Jim’s insights on digitizing the world’s reserve currency - I sure did.