On May 11, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a Handbook on how central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could work for offline payments, defined as a “transfer of value between devices that does not require connection to any ledger system”.

The handbook provides practical guidance to inform central banks on design and implementation plans, covering diverse topics including:

• Payment solutions - from architecture and devices, to user onboarding and provisioning

• Principles - risk management, privacy, inclusion and resilience by design

General considerations are raised on:

• Analysis, architecture and design

• Technology

• Security

• Operations and support

• Policy and processes

• Procurement

• User experience and payment acceptance

• Investments

• Risk management

The Handbook emphasizes that there is no one-size fits all approach, and the suitability of a solution and its implementation will depend on local country requirements.