Digital Shekel (CBDC)
Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a digital means of payment that constitutes a central bank liability toward the holder of the currency. The Bank of Israel has not yet made a decision to issue digital currency. Similar to leading central banks, it has been decided that at this stage, a plan of action will be prepared that can be put into action in the future if conditions warrant it. A future decision to issue a digital shekel will be based in part on an assessment that the benefit of issuing it exceeds the potential costs and risks involved in such an issuance.
Publications
- Potential Scenarios for Deciding to Issue a Digital Shekel 17.04.2023
- Digital shekel project – Technological experiment on a distributed platform, 19.6.2022
- The Bank of Israel publishes the main points of the public’s response to the consultation concerning a potential digital shekel, 9.5.2022
- The potential effects on the Israeli banking system of issuing a digital shekel, 2.3.2022
- The Bank of Israel Steering Committee on the Potential Issuance of a Digital Shekel publishes a report to the public 11.5.2021
- The Bank of Israel published a summary of the work of the team to examine central bank digital currency (CBDC), 6.11.2018
- Principles for creating “Acceptance” and “Network Effect” for a Digital Shekel 7.6.23
Press releases about technological projects with international cooperation:
- Central banks of Israel, Norway and Sweden team up with the BIS to explore retail CBDC for international payments , 28.9.2022
- BIS Innovation Hub, Bank of Israel and Hong Kong Monetary Authority will cooperate to test retail CBDC, 16.6.2022
- Project Icebreaker concludes experiment for a new architecture for cross-border retail CBDCs 06.03.2023
- Project Sela demonstrates that retail CBDC can support access, cyber security and competition, while retaining cash features 12.09.23
- The Bank of Israel held an international conference today marking the publication of the Project "Sela" project 12.09.23
Presentations
Sela project launch conference - part 1
Sela project launch conference - part 2
Invited Talk: Technology and Policy for Privacy of CBDC, Yoav Soffer (Bank of Israel) 11/2022
Session on digital currencies in central banks, Payment systems conference
Sela project trailer
Project Icebreaker