CBDCs

What you'll learn

• ✓Distinguish CBDC from crypto

Lessons

1. 🏝️
   The Sand Dollar Heard Around the World

   October 2020, the Bahamas goes first
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2. What a CBDC Actually Is

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3. Why Now?

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4. Country Tour

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5. Final Boss: The Tradeoffs

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Sources

All content is drawn from the sources below. We deliberately avoid unverified material.

• Atlantic Council CBDC Tracker
  Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center · data
  Live database of CBDC research, pilots, and launches across 134 countries representing 98 percent of global GDP. Source for the headline numbers in lessons 1 and 3 and the country tour in lesson 4.
  https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/cbdctracker/
• Working Paper No 880: The technology of retail central bank digital currency
  Bank for International Settlements (Auer and Boehme, 2020) · institutional
  BIS WP 880. Source for the conceptual definition of a CBDC and the retail vs wholesale framing in lesson 2.
  https://www.bis.org/publ/work880.htm
• BIS Annual Economic Report 2021, Chapter III: CBDCs, an opportunity for the monetary system
  Bank for International Settlements · institutional
  Backs the design tradeoff discussion in lesson 5 (privacy, disintermediation, cybersecurity, programmability) and the three flavors framing in lesson 2.
  https://www.bis.org/publ/arpdf/ar2021e3.htm
• A digital euro: investigation phase report (October 2021) and digital euro project pages
  European Central Bank · institutional
  Source for the eurozone investigation timeline, holding cap discussion, privacy commitments, and preparation phase in lessons 4 and 5.
  https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/digital_euro/html/index.en.html
• The digital pound: a new form of money for households and businesses?
  Bank of England and HM Treasury, February 2023 · institutional
  UK consultation paper. Backs the lesson 5 discussion of privacy, deposit flight, cybersecurity, and programmability concerns in retail CBDC design.
  https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/paper/2023/the-digital-pound-consultation-paper
• Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation
  Federal Reserve Board, January 2022 · institutional
  The Fed's January 2022 discussion paper. Source for the US position before the 2025 executive order, used in lesson 4.
  https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/money-and-payments-discussion-paper.htm
• Project Hamilton Phase 1 Executive Summary
  Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and MIT Digital Currency Initiative, February 2022 · institutional
  Joint research-only project. Source for the US technical research strand mentioned in lesson 4.
  https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/one-time-pubs/project-hamilton-phase-1-executive-summary.aspx
• Executive Order 14178: Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology (January 23, 2025)
  The White House · institutional
  Source for the January 2025 prohibition on a US CBDC referenced in lessons 4 and 5.
  https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/strengthening-american-leadership-in-digital-financial-technology/
• Progress of Research and Development of E-CNY in China (white paper)
  People's Bank of China, July 2021 · institutional
  Official PBoC white paper on the e-CNY. Source for the China timeline and design in lesson 4.
  http://www.pbc.gov.cn/en/3688110/3688172/4157443/4293696/2021071614584691871.pdf
• Nigeria's eNaira, One Year After (Working Paper WP/23/104)
  International Monetary Fund (May 2023) · institutional
  IMF working paper documenting the disappointing adoption of the eNaira after its October 2021 launch. Source for lesson 4.
  https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2023/05/12/Nigerias-eNaira-One-Year-After-533487
• Payments in Sweden 2024 (Riksbank annual payments report)
  Sveriges Riksbank · institutional
  Backs the lesson 3 claim that cash made up around 9 percent of point-of-sale payments in Sweden by 2024.
  https://www.riksbank.se/en-gb/payments--cash/payments-in-sweden/
• Central Bank of The Bahamas: The Sand Dollar
  Central Bank of The Bahamas · institutional
  Official Sand Dollar information from the issuing central bank. Source for the lesson 1 hook and the Bahamas entry in the lesson 4 country tour.
  https://www.sanddollar.bs/