Central bank digital currencies

Central bank digital currencies are digital central-bank liabilities designed for retail or wholesale use. They are direct state monetary infrastructure and can support payment resilience, inclusion, settlement innovation and monetary sovereignty. Privacy, programmability, surveillance, cross-border reach and geopolitical effect depend on architecture, law and governance. A CBDC is not inherently a sanctions-bypass system or a universal transaction-control instrument.

Forms and operators

A retail CBDC is central-bank money available for use by households or firms. Distribution may be direct, intermediated or hybrid, and commercial banks or payment providers may operate wallets and customer interfaces. A wholesale CBDC is intended for eligible financial institutions or market infrastructures. It is distinct from retail money, a commercial-bank deposit, an unbacked cryptoasset, a stablecoin and a fast-payment system.

The BIS 2024 survey covered 93 central banks and reported that 85, or 91 per cent, were exploring a retail CBDC, wholesale CBDC or both. Exploration includes research, proof of concept and pilot work and should not be reported as launch. The Sand Dollar and JAM-DEX are official retail examples in The Bahamas and Jamaica. Adoption figures still require the issuing central bank's definition of wallet, active user, transaction value and period.

Strategic purposes and trade-offs

Official CBDC work cites payment efficiency, resilience, financial inclusion, settlement innovation and monetary sovereignty. These are declared public purposes where the relevant central bank says so. A broader purpose of surveillance, capital control or sanctions evasion remains architecture-specific and contested unless law, design or observed use establishes it.

Data access depends on the distribution model, identity layer, intermediary responsibilities, offline capability, privacy technology and governing law. Not every CBDC gives a central bank transaction-level personal data. Programmability is also not inherent. A user-authorised conditional payment differs from programmable money whose persistent issuer rules restrict use. The Bank of England and HM Treasury state that programmable money would be prohibited under their proposed digital-pound model.

CBDCs can also affect commercial-bank funding, run dynamics, cyber risk, operational concentration and monetary transmission. The direction and scale of those effects depend on holding limits, remuneration, distribution and substitution with existing money.

Current projects as at 29 July 2026

Project mBridge reached minimum viable product stage on 5 June 2024, when Saudi Arabia joined as a full participant. In October 2024 the BIS described the project as having graduated from the Innovation Hub. That statement did not establish its later governance or transaction use, and the project was not simply abandoned because of sanctioned-country participation.

A multi-CBDC platform does not automatically bypass SWIFT, correspondent banks, the United States dollar or New York jurisdiction in every transaction. Analysis must identify the currency, participating banks, settlement asset, messaging, foreign-exchange leg, legal framework and conversion path.

The People's Bank of China's public record supports description of e-CNY as a pilot unless a later formal decision establishes national issuance. The digital euro had not been issued. The European Central Bank's July 2026 project page recorded rulebook draft 0.91 and an aim to be ready for possible first issuance during 2029, assuming the necessary European Union legislation is adopted during 2026. The Bank of England and HM Treasury had made no decision to introduce a digital pound, and its design phase was due to conclude in 2026.

The record remains in the main sequence because central banks and legislatures directly design sovereign monetary infrastructure for declared integration, resilience and order-building objectives. The geopolitical implications require project and transaction-level evidence.

See also

e-CNY: digital yuan infrastructure · Digital ruble · mBridge · Network reconstitution (parallel rails) · Correspondent banking and Nostro/Vostro architecture · Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems

Sources

• Bank for International Settlements, Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures and Markets Committee, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features (9 October 2020).
• Anamaria Illes, Anneke Kosse and Peter Wierts, "Advancing in tandem: results of the 2024 BIS survey on central bank digital currencies and crypto," BIS Papers No. 159 (22 August 2025).
• Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub, "Project mBridge reaches minimum viable product stage and invites further international participation" (5 June 2024).
• Agustin Carstens, "The future of finance," speech (31 October 2024).
• International Monetary Fund, Central Bank Digital Currency: Progress and Further Considerations, IMF Policy Paper 2024/052 (October 2024).
• Chady El Khoury and others, "Central Bank Digital Currency Data Use and Privacy Protection," IMF Fintech Note 2024/004 (30 August 2024), DOI 10.5089/9798400286971.063.
• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation (January 2022).
• European Central Bank, "Digital euro," current project page checked 29 July 2026.
• Piero Cipollone, "The digital euro: preparing for a potential launch," European Central Bank introductory statement (24 March 2026).
• Bank of England and HM Treasury, "Progress update: Digital Pound Design Phase" (4 March 2026).
• Central Bank of The Bahamas, "Sand Dollar," official portal checked 29 July 2026.
• Bank of Jamaica, "JAM-DEX," official page checked 29 July 2026.
• People's Bank of China, Progress of Research and Development of E-CNY in China, Working Group on E-CNY Research and Development (July 2021).