Share this article
CBDCs Are the Future of Money, IBM Exec Says
Shyam Nagarajan says issuers should consider a hybrid model of permissioned and permissionless currency.
Updated May 9, 2023, 4:06 a.m. Published Jan 17, 2023, 6:44 p.m.
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have the potential to change payment systems, Shyam Nagarajan, an executive partner at IBM Consulting, said Monday on CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” from the World Economic Forum's annual conference in Davos, Switzerland.
Nagarajan said that CBDCs are the future of money, but issuers need to consider a hybrid-like model.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
“They are replacing the current digital currency system, and in a way, they are controlled,” Nagarajan said. “This is an excellent position where a combination of permissioned and permissionless is necessary.”
While many CBDC pilot projects are still in a development phases, Nagarajan said payments will eventually be made with CBDCs. In the meantime, stablecoins, which are a form of cryptocurrency pegged to real-world assets such as gold or the U.S. dollar, are working as “stopgaps until CBDCS are available in the market.”
Rob Massey, global tax leader, blockchain and cryptocurrency at Deloitte, echoed Nagarajan's comments in a separate segment on “First Mover.” He said the ability to use programmable money with smart contracts can reduce friction and “help large-scale enterprises elevate their level of transparency and real-time payment systems.”
“It’s absolutely where we’re going,” Massey said, although he cautioned that not all CBDCs, stablecoins and smart-contract protocols “are created equal.”
Read more: Bank of America Says CBDCs Are the Future of Money and Payments
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
VanEck's new Avalanche ETF filing to include staking rewards for AVAX investors
The fund will use Coinbase Crypto Services as its initial staking provider and pay a 4% service fee, with rewards accruing to the fund and reflected in its net asset value.
What to know:
- VanEck has updated its filing for an Avalanche ETF, VAVX, to include staking rewards, aiming to generate income for investors by staking up to 70% of its AVAX holdings.
- The fund will use Coinbase Crypto Services as its initial staking provider and pay a 4% service fee, with rewards accruing to the fund and reflected in its net asset value.
- If approved, the fund will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker VAVX, tracking AVAX's price via a custom index, and will be custodied with regulated providers, including Anchorage Digital and Coinbase Custody.
Top Stories
