Partior Makes the Case for wCBDCs as the Backbone of Global Settlement
Key points
- 134 countries representing over 98% of global GDP are actively engaged in CBDC initiatives, with 11 G20 nations including Brazil, Japan, India, South Korea, and Australia already at the pilot stage.
- By 2030, 24 operational CBDCs are expected to exist, coinciding with tokenised asset market projections of $4 to $5 trillion across the same timeframe.
- Only 4 of 82 CPMI jurisdictions operate near-24/7 RTGS systems; the BIS has proposed a 06:00 to 11:00 GMT global settlement window as a remedy, which wCBDCs could underpin.
- Correspondent banking relationships declined by 22% between 2011 and 2019, and cross-border payment infrastructure costs global corporations $120 billion annually, excluding FX expenses.
- Projects Jura and Helvetia have demonstrated wCBDC use for tokenised securities settlement, eliminating counterparty credit risk in a way that private currency settlement cannot.
Partior has published a policy-oriented paper arguing that wholesale central bank digital currencies (wCBDCs) are the most credible instrument for resolving longstanding fragmentation in cross-border payments and securities settlement. The paper draws on current CBDC progress data, noting that 134 countries representing over 98% of global GDP are actively pursuing CBDC initiatives, with 19 of the G20 nations having made material advances and 11 already operating at the pilot stage.
The core operational argument centres on settlement timing. Only 4 of the 82 jurisdictions tracked by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) currently run near-continuous real-time gross settlement (RTGS) operations, creating frictions across time zones that affect securities settlement and foreign exchange transactions. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has proposed a global settlement window of 06:00 to 11:00 GMT as a practical fix, and Partior's paper positions wCBDCs as the liquidity layer that could make that window operational, citing Project Jura's cross-border tokenised securities work as a working proof of concept.
The paper also frames wCBDCs as the natural settlement asset for the broader tokenisation build-out, which is projected to reach between $4 trillion and $5 trillion by 2030. Correspondent banking has been contracting since 2008, with the number of active correspondent banks falling 22% between 2011 and 2019 even as payment volumes grew, and the annual cost burden on global corporations from traditional cross-border infrastructure stands at $120 billion excluding foreign exchange costs. On this reading, wCBDCs address a structural gap rather than a marginal efficiency gain. The paper references Project Genesis in Hong Kong, Projects Helvetia and Jura in Europe, and emerging regulatory frameworks in Korea and Indonesia as evidence that the institutional groundwork is forming across jurisdictions.