Is Digital Currency a Payment Disruption Mechanism?

Abstract

Digital economies are omnipresent, evident, and inhabit every sphere of human existence. Blockchain technology has changed how private currencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum are traded in open markets. To strengthen and protect the economic & financial system against such private currencies, the central banks around the world have leaped to introduce their own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) for phasing out with high technology transformations. The present paper will be a first of its kind attempt to capture the perceptions and real-time issues of common people in the implementation of CBDC in a large country like India. As CBDC is still in its pilot phase of implementation, researchers have used the bottom-up approach to capture the requisite information from the common man view and the thematic analysis method was used to finalize the variables viz., financial literacy & inclusion, infrastructure, technical know-how, trust & belief in the system, and acceptance level for further discussion. The result analysis highlights, that government and implementing agencies of CBDC should ensure to reach the unreached population, especially in Tier-2 & 3 cities with proper technology infrastructure, and frequently hold awareness/orientation campaigns to realize the benefits of financial inclusion and easy adaptation of digital currency.