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Digital fiat currency (DFC) is a tokenized, digital representation of a sovereign currency issued by an authorized public or private entity. When issued and distributed by a central bank or other monetary authority, it is a central bank digital currency (CBDC). If it is issued by a private entity, it may be e-money or another form of digital commercial bank money/private digital tokens/stablecoins, even if backed by central bank money.

The Everex eTHB stablecoin is equivalent to one Thai Baht and powered by Ethereum smart contracts. It is the main component of the Everex Wallet application, which allows users to deposit, send, receive and withdraw cash or transfer funds to a bank account in a number of DFC stablecoins representing different national currencies.

ITU and Stanford University have agreed to launch a new partnership to support pilot implementations of Digital Fiat Currency (DFC), digital currency authorized and issued by a Central Bank.

BearingPoint published the latest edition of its European Payment Study, based on an online survey of 10,222 people aged 18 and over in nine countries. It shows that in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, cash remains the most frequently used payment method, accounting for 69%, 73% and 57% of transactions, respectively. In contrast, the Nordic countries, particularly Sweden with 28% and Denmark with 35%, show significantly lower cash usage. Overall, the survey reveals that the frequency of cash usage has declined in almost all surveyed countries compared to the previous year. The digital euro has achieved relatively high awareness, with only one-third of respondents having never heard of it. Online shopping is the preferred use case for the digital euro, with an average of 37% across countries. Being free of charge (43%) and accepted everywhere (37%) are the leading objective requirements.

U.S. Federal Reserve Board (FRB) Governor Christopher J. Waller spoke about the maturing stablecoin market and the potential challenges that could impede it from reaching its full potential. Stablecoins must demonstrate not only clear use cases, but also a clear commercial case to be economically viable. Plus, the public sector needs to set clear and targeted legal and regulatory frameworks and coordinate those frameworks across states and national boundaries to enable private sector innovation at a global scale.

"The GENIUS Act tries to mitigate credit risk on stablecoins by declaring their property of the investor vis-a-vis custodians, and prioritizing the investors' claims vis-a-vis creditors of the issuer. But neither is really a fix, and the truth is that absent a government guaranty, there's no way around this problem. No matter how much stablecoins are prioritized in bankruptcy, bankruptcy is a slow process, and time is money. And there are limits to how far stablecoins can be prioritized in bankruptcy without rendering the bankruptcy system unworkable. (Making stablecoins the property of the investors is no help in an issuer bankruptcy because all the investor gets is a digital token that is worthless without the redemption right, and that's just a bankruptcy claim; this is different than in the custodian bankruptcy scenario.) The only real way to ensure 100% timely repayment is a government backstop, but that's not something the industry wants (because it goes with regulation)." (Adam Levitin)

Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) published a white paper on its Student Safe central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project, which was launched in ... and phased out in February 2025. The aim was to create a CBDC environment that is not only secure and regulated, but also flexible and user-friendly. The Student Safe offered free of charge and secure digital payment solutions to support the financial inclusion of 8-14 year olds. It provided users with the opportunity to learn the theory and practice of digital finance basics through a combination of quizzes and mobile banking functions. Going forward, the MNB will examine possible motivations and emerging use cases that could be relevant to the Student Safe user base or to another group of consumers.

"The National Bank of Cambodia recently published its annual report, disclosing continued growth in the Bakong blockchain-based payment systems. Payment volumes of $104.81 billion during 2024 represent 330% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). There are now around 30 million Bakong wallets, a figure that is 1.69 times the population. In terms of acceptance, 4.5 million merchants can receive payments because there's a standard QR code method supported for multiple payment types. While sometimes described as a central bank digital currency (CBDC), because it was set up by the central bank, Bakong is closer to a tokenized deposit initiative. Bakong currency balances are backed by accounts at commercial banks."

The Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported that Muzhir Mohammad Saleh, the financial advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister, said that the Central Bank of Iraq is planning to issue a digital currency (CBDC) as a "gradual alternative" to bank notes. He added that "digital cash will maintain its traditional functions as a unit of account, payments and savings, with the possibility of using it online and smart phones, which will contribute to developing a more stable and efficient financial environment."

The IMF published a paper that presents a practical legal-analytical framework to assess how private law rules can be designed to support the wide circulation and safe holding of token-based central bank digital currency (CBDC) primarily intended for retail use. It follows a previous IMF working paper that examined the legal foundations of CBDC under central bank law and its treatment under monetary law-the main public law aspects of CBDC. A private law framework is also needed, because unlike account-based CBDC, token-based CBDC constitutes from the legal perspective a new form of money and hence raises a lot of challenges under private law. This legal nature will shape how token-based CBDC can be transferred, held in custody, "deposited" with commercial banks, and pledged. It is also be crucial that private law rules establish with certainty how ownership and other rights in token-based CBDC can be transferred between economic agents. In most jurisdictions, the private law regime for token-based CBDC will likely need to be augmented by a comprehensive legislative intervention to provide a sufficiently robust and predictable legal foundation for this new digital currency. In designing such a legislative framework, countries will need to consider carefully whether to anchor it in a broader framework for digital money or assets.

On 13 March, 2025, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs voted to advance the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act. In his opening remarks, Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said that the Act establishes common-sense rules that require stablecoin issuers to maintain reserves backed 1:1, comply with anti-money laundering laws, and ultimately protect American consumers while promoting the U.S. dollar's strength in the global economy. Five Democrats on the panel - Sens. Mark Warner (Va.), Andy Kim (N.J.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.) and Angela Alsobrooks (Md.) - joined their Republican colleagues in voting to advance Sen. Bill Hagerty's (R-Tenn.) stablecoin bill. The bill now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.

Starting in Summer 2025, PayPal will pay U.S. users 3.7% annually in rewards on holdings of PayPal USD (PYUSD) in their PayPal or Venmo wallets. Users will be able to immediately use any rewards received to send to other users, fund international transfers, exchange for fiat, or make purchases at millions of merchants with PayPal Checkout.

Nigeria will reportedly sign a deal to enable a direct conversion of naira to digital renminbi (RMB) according to Nigeria-China Strategic Partnership (NCSP) Director-General Joseph Tegbehas. Speaking at a conference in Lagos, he said the agreement could reduce Nigeria's dependence on the United States dollar. The NCSP jointly established ivy the Chinese and Nigerian governments in November 2024 under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu following agreements reached with President Xi Jinping at FOCAC 2024, aiming to deepen economic, trade, and investment relations between the two nations. It serves facilitate high-impact partnerships that align with Nigeria's development priorities and China's Belt and Road Initiative. But there has not yet been an announcement on the NCSP website regarding the RMB deal. https://ncsp.gov.ng

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board (FRB) rescinded its 2022 supervisory letter establishing an expectation that the banks it regulates and supervises provide advance notification of planned or current crypto-asset activities. As a result, the FRB will no longer expect banks to provide notification and will instead monitor banks' crypto-asset activities through the normal supervisory process. The FRB is also rescinding its 2023 supervisory letter regarding the supervisory nonobjection process for bank engagement in dollar token activities.

"Mastercard is advancing the future of payments, finance and technology with new, global end-to-end stablecoin acceptance and payments capabilities, to ensure that people and businesses can make and receive stablecoin payments - anytime, anywhere. While banks and fintechs are increasingly engaging with solutions built on stablecoins, global ubiquity and scale is contingent on everyday utility, seamless integration into existing financial systems, and an intuitive user experience. To allow consumers and businesses to use stablecoins as easily as the money in their bank accounts, Mastercard is providing an integrated, 360-degree approach..."

"Last year Stripe spent $1.1 billion acquiring Bridge, the company that provides cross border API infrastructure for stablecoin payments. On April 25, 2025 a member of Stripe's crypto product team, Jennifer Lee, announced on X that the company is starting to test its Bridge-based product and invited companies outside the US, UK and EU who want to access dollars. She didn't mention which stablecoins solutions would be offered initially."

Forbes published an article by Christian Catalini that examines the intensifying competition in the stablecoin market, where companies like PayPal, Coinbase, Circle, Tether, and even traditional financial giants like Visa and Mastercard are vying for dominance. Drawing an analogy to the commoditization of electricity, Catalini argues that stablecoins risk becoming undifferentiated utilities, with margins squeezed by competition and regulatory pressures. The two primary revenue levers for issuers -- reserve yields and transaction fees -- are both under threat as users demand higher returns and payment rails become commoditized. The "stablecoin sandwich" model (converting local currency to stablecoins for cross-border transfers, then back to local currency) represents current momentum, but Catalini predicts that only institutions closest to central banking, like banks themselves, will ultimately have the cost advantage in minting stablecoins. He concludes that the real winners won't necessarily be those creating the best stablecoins, but rather those controlling the distribution channels-the wallets, apps, and merchant relationships-through which these digital currencies flow.

David Birch argues that, contrary to popular belief, cash is not always the most resilient payment method during disasters such as fires, floods, or wars. Drawing on real-world examples-from Japanese tsunamis and Nigerian market fires to the ongoing war in Ukraine-the author shows that people relying on physical cash often suffer greater losses, while digital payment systems, especially those with offline capabilities, tend to be more robust as long as power and communications can be maintained. In Ukraine, for instance, the resilience of the payment system has been bolstered by widespread adoption of softPOS (mobile-based point-of-sale) and contactless technologies, even amid blackouts and cyberattacks. The article concludes that future-proofing payments should focus on enabling device-to-device digital transactions that work without network connectivity, such as offline central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), rather than simply stockpiling cash.

The U.S. Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC) published an overview of the potential terminal effects risks of interest-bearing stablecoins and tokenized money funds, from a perspective of Treasury demand, USD hegemony, the expansion of dollar-backed payment stablecoins, and potential effects for insured depository institutions. Also, it's worth taking a look at Coindesk's monthly report of central bank digital currency (CBDC) and stablecoins for useful presentations of the raw data. https://data.coindesk.com/reports/stablecoins-cbdcs-report-2-april

The East African Community (EAC) Draft Cross-Border Payment System Masterplan was validated by its eight member countries (Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania). The Masterplan aims to enhance the speed, security, affordability and integration of payment systems across the region. It tackles key obstacles such as fragmented regulations, high transaction costs, and limited interoperability by outlining twenty targeted initiatives. These include a regional instant retail payment switch, and exploring using central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for regional transactions.