When we think of money, we think of notes and coins. However, in Australia, 96.3% of the money is digital, held by financial institutions and moved around via bank transfers, debit cards and credit cards, says Professor Nafis Alam from the School of Business. "Late last year, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg promised to consult about introducing a third type of currency, a central bank digital currency, and asked the treasury to come up with a position by the end of 2022. A central bank digital currency (CBDC) would be an “e-dollar”, each one worth $1 dollar, but able to be held digitally without being put into a bank – such as on computers or in digital wallets on phones. It could allow direct consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-business payments without the intervention of financial institutions, and allow people who don’t want to use banks to hold funds in a form that’s safer than cash,” Professor Nafis shared. Click to read the full article: https://theconversation.com/australia-is-investigating-a-digital-currency-or-e-dollar-but-its-benefits-seem-slight-and-the-risks-to-privacy-large-180099