The recent invitation extended to innovators, fintechs, and startups by the National Bank of Rwanda to participate in shaping the country’s future e‑Franc is both timely and welcome. It encompasses a participatory process that recognises the complexity of our financial ecosystem.
These consultations, designed as a retail CBDC Ideathon, provide a vital opportunity for the central bank to gather grounded insights into the nitty-gritty of Rwanda’s domestic payment habits, infrastructure limitations, digital literacy gaps, and user behaviour; all of which must inform policy decisions to guide the rollout of the e-currency.
Yet, to truly craft a robust and context‑sensitive policy, Rwanda must look not only inward but also outward. Across the globe, jurisdictions such as the Bahamas (with its Sand Dollar), countries in the Eastern Caribbean (DCash), Turkey’s digital lira trials, and cross-border initiatives like mBridge and Inthanon‑LionRock, among others, offer invaluable case studies in CBDC design, adoption, governance, and unintended consequences.
Understanding how these models fared with respect to commercial bank resistance, adoption rates, legal frameworks, privacy concerns, resilience during outages, or success in promoting financial inclusion is essential to avoid pitfalls and replicate successes suited to our context.
Taken together, a dual-track consultation approach—first engaging local innovators and users to map Rwanda’s internal dynamics, then systematically reviewing the global CBDC experience would yield a well-rounded policy framework.
Additionally, this broad consultation will help build trust among consumers, merchants, and financial institutions who may understandably be cautious about introducing a digital version of the franc.
Ultimately, consultation must be positioned not as a perfunctory step but as a strategic pillar of policy formation. Rwanda’s ambition to build a knowledge‑based economy depends on the credibility and utility of its infrastructure, financial and otherwise.
By grounding CBDC design in both local voice and international lessons, the central bank can ensure that when the e‑Franc emerges from the ideation and pilot stages, it is precisely tailored; resilient, inclusive, interoperable, and aligned with Rwanda’s vision 2050.
Only then can the digital franc become an asset rather than a disruption and contribute positively to the nation’s financial and technological transformation.