Abstract

This article investigates the impacts of the digital revolution on the international
monetary and financial system (IMFS), emphasizing the effects generated by the new China’s digital currency, e-CNY. It is argued that from the point of view of emerging and developing
countries (EDCs) the transformations of the digital age imply considering costs and benefits
of implementing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), in a context where this “new form”
does not substantially change the hierarchical and asymmetric character of the SMFI. The e-
CNY implies the establishment of new disjunctures, such as, for example, developing systems
that are interoperable with the Chinese system, or not. This aspect carries a strong political
component in the current context of questioning the status quo in various dimensions
of the international system. To illustrate this aspect, the article brings empirical evidence on
the evolution of the interconnections between the Chinese economy and the main EDCs in
dimensions such as convergence in business cycles and financial cycles. Greater integration
with China could work as a potential attraction factor for many EDCs, which could gravitate
more towards e-CNY in a scenario of greater opposition to the US dollar dominance.

JEL Classification: F33; F50; F44.