CPMI Outlines Four Central Bank Roles in a Payments System Shared with Stablecoins

On Oct. 29, the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), hosted by the Bank for International Settlements, released an analysis that defines four central‑bank roles—issuer, operator, overseer, and catalyst—in a payments ecosystem that increasingly includes stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and programmable platforms. The report positions central‑bank money as the safest and most liquid settlement asset for systemically important systems, while acknowledging private payment services as complementary, providing competition, efficiency, and broader access. It examines how these arrangements fit into the wider payments system, highlighting enduring forces such as network effects, concentration versus fragmentation, and trust in money. The framework calls for central banks to decide who can hold central‑bank accounts, how to modernise or build infrastructure, how to oversee emerging digital‑money arrangements for systemic importance and resilience, and how to act as a catalyst by convening stakeholders and encouraging common practices.