How could practitioners assess the domestic financial stability implications of retail CBDC? This chapter identifies six key transmission channels through which CBDC can affect financial stability—either negatively or positively. These channels operate through bank funding and lending, fee...

This Fintech Note aims to analyze how the issuance of central bank digital currency (CBDC) could affect monetary operations, which include central banks managing the demand and supply of reserves to achieve a desired stance of monetary policy. The note outlines three scenarios: CBDCs...

The IMF is frequently approached by central banks seeking guidance on the balance between central bank digital currency (CBDC), fast payment systems (FPS), and electronic money (e-money) solutions. Common questions arising include: Do central banks need a CBDC when already equipped with other...

Among the countries that have launched central bank digital currency (CBDC) or are conducting large-scale pilots, adoption remains slow and limited due to various challenges such as lack of public awareness and trust, preference for existing payment methods, and inadequate incentives for...

This note offers a framework to help countries navigate, as well as tools to help them manage, the trade-offs between CBDC data use and privacy protection. It addresses retail CBDC, as data access and privacy-preserving considerations in a wholesale environment are similar to those of the...

Over 100 central banks around the globe are exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to modernize payment systems. They aim to explore potential benefits, risks, and the broad range of new capabilities CBDCs might offer. Some view CBDC exploration as an opportunity to rethink their...

Many central banks are currently exploring the possibility of issuing retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). While the primary objective varies between jurisdictions, many central banks consider improved cross-border payments as a potential benefit and previous work has shown that CBDC can...

This Fintech Note reports key findings from the Sub-Saharan Africa Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and Digital Payments Survey, shedding light on the motivations, benefits, and challenges of CBDC adoption, as well as the developments of digital private money and crypto assets in sub-Saharan...

To explore risks associated with digital money, this Fintech Note simulates the hypothetical large-scale adoption of crypto assets in a model of a small open economy. The model highlights that a foreign-currency denominated stablecoin can amplify currency substitution and capital outflows in...

Financial inclusion is a key policy objective that central banks, especially those in emerging and low-income countries, are considering for retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). If properly designed to address the barriers to financial inclusion, CBDCs have the opportunity to gain...