Typically there are significant advantages to being first to market. Take Bitcoin, for instance. While there are many technically superior blockchains to Bitcoin, Bitcoin was the first. Thus it had many years to build up its brand and attract a network of users, all advantages that better coins simply cannot replicate.

A classic strategy in bicycle racing is to let others lead. The burden of breaking wind resistance falls on the leaders while followers conserve energy. This same analogy applies to traveling down the risky road to CBDC. To begin with, we don’t know what the effects of issuing a CBDC might have on the traditional banking system. Some economists worry that it will magnify banking runs during crises as panicking depositors flee banks into 100% safe central bank digital currency.

The problem with a game in which no one wants to go first is the game never gets going. If CBDC is ever going to happen, it needs some reckless first movers.

Read the full article at coindesk

 

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