Is Canada secretly planning a national cryptocurrency?

If you had any doubts that the Bank of Canada was looking closely at the issue of Canadian central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the job offer it has just published should dispel those doubts. In the “Careers” section of the site, you will find a job offer with the clear title “Economist, digital currency and financial technology”. The official title of this position is Analyst (SSF), CBDC.

To encourage candidates to apply, the Bank of Canada plays the innovation card.

“As an institution that aspires to reinvent the role of the central bank, to renew its ways of doing things and to strengthen a culture of innovation, the Bank will offer stimulating challenges and encourage you to excel”.

The page states that the Bank of Canada openly acknowledges that things are changing in the financial world. “The wave of innovation in financial technology around the world is transforming the world of money, payments systems and financial intermediation. The Bank of Canada is participating in a major research program to analyze the risks and new opportunities arising from this transformation.”

According to the bank’s official page, the economist’s duties will include monitoring and analyzing the latest developments related to electronic funds and payments, implementing research projects, preparing analytical notes and working on the “potential development of a CBDC”.

The institution wants to set up “a monitoring framework for money and payments as well as contingency plans for the introduction of a digital currency for the central bank (MNBC)” and acknowledges, although “this program is of significant social importance and will require us to be innovative”.

The successful candidate will be required to “initiate and undertake in-depth research projects, analyze complex economic and policy issues, provide your perspective, propose innovative solutions, and develop tools to monitor money and payments developments.

The candidate will be hired for 3 years with a possibility of extension/tenure and will work in Ottawa. Interested candidates have until October 25, 2020 11:59 pm EST to apply.