The digital EGP won’t look different at checkout — but it will work nothing like InstaPay
· Egyptian market news
💰 When you send money over InstaPay, tap a wallet app at checkout, split a dinner bill without anyone reaching for banknotes, none of that is central-bank money laying the groundwork
What is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in a nutshell?
The idea of central-bank-issued digital money exists because of what came before it.
It is a sovereignty story:
What makes the CBDC unique
It’s controlled and regulated by the Central Bank.
What happens differently at the checkout? does not carry any credit risk
CBDCs could carry offline payments:
Programmability remains the most debated feature
Wholesale first, retail later, maybe?
Retail CBDCs are the ones that would sit in a consumer’s pocket
Advantages of retail CBDCs are still contested:
The risks that explain the caution:
The true strength of CBDCs resides in wholesale applications and cross-border payments
A real-life proof of concept: January 2024
Where Egypt actually stands
The CBE is in proof-of-concept now, with a broad rollout loosely targeted for 2030 MoU said