Comment by graemep

I was just thinking that. He says the system has low transaction costs (free for individuals) and is fast (three seconds) instead of taking days. Sending money abroad is more expensive, but if you shop around for services instead of just paying what your bank charges it can be very cheap and fast.

In the UK we have bank transfers that settle in a maximum of two hours (much less usually, although I do not know whether it is as fast as the Brazilian system on average) and is free for individuals. It seems to be the norm globally. Is Krugman entirely unaware of how the rest of the world works?

The one things he is right about is that we do already have central bank digital currencies. Most currencies exist mostly in digital form (I cannot remember the exact number, but got GBP its well over 90%).