A Digital Singapore Dollar May Be Too Much of a Good Thing
The city-state is swimming against the tide, concerned that a central bank digital currency could over-succeed and undermine financial stability.
Singapore needn’t worry whether anyone would want its paperless cash. Just the opposite.
Photographer: Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty
The world may be going crazy over digital currencies, but tiny Singapore is swimming against the tide.
The central bank has decided against offering a paperless version of the city-state’s legal tender — at least for now. Not because an electronic version of cash may flop, but because it’ll most likely be a hit. That could have consequences for the island’s financial stability and conduct of monetary policy. Even if those risks are manageable with in-built safeguards, why rock the boat?