About Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

In: Review of Pacific Basin financial markets and policies: RPBFMP, Band 26, Heft 4

Abstract

A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a country's fiat currency that exists in a digital form. This digital currency becomes a liability on the balance sheet of a nation's central bank when it ceases to be a liability on the balance sheet of one of the nation's commercial banks and gets transferred to the central bank. Instead of printing paper money, the central bank can create CBDCs by opening electronic bank accounts at commercial banks that are backed by the full faith and credit of the nation's central bank. The goal of a CBDC is to provide the nation's government, businesses and consumers with a liquid and accessible currency that supplies privacy, transferability, convenience, and financial security. If CBDCs become highly popular, someday the world might operate with only one global CBDC.