StanChart CEO Bill Winters says digital currencies’ widespread rollout is ‘absolutely inevitable’

Digital currencies could be created for specific types of projects, such as trading in the voluntary carbon market, for example, suggested Winters. That would provide users, who want to offset their carbon emissions, confidence that the financing behind their project is “verified, standardised, monitored,” he said.

“Those sorts of applications for a digital currency, and creating a digital currency ecosystem, is something that can’t be replicated by a fiat currency, or, most likely, by a central bank digital currency any time soon.”

“I think there is a whole new world that’s opening up for us,” he said.

Winters was speaking as part of a panel at the annual conference, which this year is being held virtually over the course of five days. He was joined by Piyush Gupta, chief executive officer of Singapore-based DBS Bank, and Calvin Choi, chairman and chief executive officer of AMTD Group, who both agreed that the rollout of digital currencies will likely require a collaborative effort from public and private bodies.

“You will find over the next few years that some kind of network stitched together, but with central bank digital currencies at the core, will become a reality,” said Gupta.