There are potential obstacles that may make settlement in central bank money impractical. Some examples are given below.

Central banks typically impose high standards on actors wishing to participate in their settlement system, partly to protect themselves against potential losses or disruptions, and partly to protect the system as a whole and its participants. This may make it more difficult for financial market infrastructures and their participants to access the systems so that they can settle in central bank money.

There may also be operational obstacles, such as central banks opening hours, which make settlement in central bank money impractical. This is the case, for example, for the company CLS. CLS provides FX settlement of 18 currencies globally, and since the central banks settling the currencies have different opening hours, it is difficult to settle them in central bank accounts at the same time. Another example is instant payments around the clock. If they are to be settled in central bank money, the central bank's system must be open 24 hours a day, which is currently not common. Securities settlement is also moving in the direction of shorter settlement cycles, and many players are global, leading to demands regarding the operating hours of central bank payment systems.

There may also be legal obstacles that prevent or hinder a settlement institution and its participants from accessing central bank money, in particular if they offer settlement in another jurisdiction or currency.

Another obstacle that may arise is linked to new technologies. The simplest way to efficiently and safely settle money and securities in one transaction at the same time is a solution where both securities and money are on the same technical platform. A large number of initiatives are currently underway in which securities are registered and settled on distributed ledgers using blockchain technology. In addition, there are initiatives where central banks are working on offering central bank money with similar technology. However, given the different pace of development, we are likely to see a market characterised by hybrid models, i.e. a combination of players using 'old' and 'new' technologies for the foreseeable future. Tests have been conducted in which the central bank provides an account that allows a commercial settlement institution to tokenise the money in the account for settlement, i.e. the money is digitally represented on the distributed ledger where securities settlement takes place. Such a solution can be described as settlement in commercial bank money but backed by central bank money as described earlier.