PayTech and the D(ata) N(etwork) A(ctivities) of BigTech Platforms Staff Working Paper 2022-35 Jonathan Chiu, Thorsten Koeppl Why do BigTech platforms introduce payment services? We explore this using a model in which a monopoly platform faces a trade-off between the costs associated with privacy concerns and the revenue from data services. We then analyze the feedback effects between data and payments. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): D, D8, E, E4, E42, L, L1
Cash in the Pocket, Cash in the Cloud: Cash Holdings of Bitcoin Owners Staff Working Paper 2022-26 Daniela Balutel, Christopher Henry, Kim Huynh, Marcel Voia We estimate the effect that owning Bitcoin has on the amount of cash held by Canadian consumers. Our results question the view that adopting certain new technologies, such as Bitcoin, leads to a decline in cash holdings. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C12, E, E4, O, O3, O33, O5, O51
Resilience of bank liquidity ratios in the presence of a central bank digital currency Staff Analytical Note 2022-5 Alissa Gorelova, Bena Lands, Maria teNyenhuis Could Canadian banks continue to meet their regulatory liquidity requirements after the introduction of a cash-like retail central bank digital currency (CBDC)? We conduct a hypothetical exercise to estimate how a CBDC could affect bank liquidity by increasing the run-off rates of transactional retail deposits under four increasingly severe scenarios. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Central bank research, Digital currencies and fintech, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial institutions, Financial stability JEL Code(s): C, E, E4, G, G2, G21, O, O3, O33
Identifying Financially Remote First Nations Reserves Staff Discussion Paper 2022-11 Heng Chen, Walter Engert, Kim Huynh, Daneal O’Habib Chen et al. (2021) show that almost one-third of First Nations band offices in Canada are within 1 kilometre (km) of an automated banking machine (ABM) or financial institution (FI) branch and more than half are within 5 km. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Financial institutions, Financial services, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42, E5, G, G2, G21
Bitcoin Awareness, Ownership and Use: 2016–20 Staff Discussion Paper 2022-10 Daniela Balutel, Marie-Hélène Felt, Gradon Nicholls, Marcel Voia In this paper, we examine trends in Canadian ownership of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from 2016 to 2020 using data from surveys conducted by the Bank of Canada. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C12, E, E4, O, O5, O51
Cash and COVID-19: What happened in 2021 Staff Discussion Paper 2022-8 Heng Chen, Walter Engert, Kim Huynh, Daneal O’Habib, Joy Wu, Julia Zhu Using data from the Bank Note Distribution System and consumer surveys, we find that bank notes in circulation remained high through 2021. Canadians continued to rely on electronic methods of payment, but a significant share also continued using cash for payments. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Bank notes, Central bank research, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Digital currencies and fintech, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C12, C9, E, E4, O, O5, O54
Equilibrium in Two-Sided Markets for Payments: Consumer Awareness and the Welfare Cost of the Interchange Fee Staff Working Paper 2022-15 Kim Huynh, Gradon Nicholls, Oleksandr Shcherbakov We construct and estimate a structural two-stage model of equilibrium in a market for payments in order to quantify the network externalities and identify the main determinants of consumer and merchant decisions. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial services JEL Code(s): C, C5, C51, D, D1, D12, E, E4, E42, L, L1, L14
March 16, 2022 Bank of Canada and Massachusetts Institute of Technology announce joint Central Bank Digital Currency collaboration Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario The Bank of Canada and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) today announced an agreement to collaborate on a twelve-month research project on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Content Type(s): Press, Press releases Research Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech
What Drives Bitcoin Fees? Using Segwit to Assess Bitcoin's Long-Run Sustainability Staff Working Paper 2022-2 Colin Brown, Jonathan Chiu, Thorsten Koeppl We explore what drives transaction fees in the Bitcoin system and consider whether Bitcoin can remain tamper proof in the long run. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, G, G2
Best Before? Expiring Central Bank Digital Currency and Loss Recovery Staff Working Paper 2021-67 Charles M. Kahn, Maarten van Oordt, Yu Zhu We consider introducing an expiry date for offline digital currency balances. Consumers whose digital cash expired would automatically receive the funds back into their online account. This functionality could increase demand for digital cash, with the time to expiry playing a key role. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42