Central Bank Digital Currency Tracker Shows 130 Countries Are Diving Into CBDCs
130 countries representing a total of 98% of global GDP are exploring CDBCs due to their ability to facilitate tight government surveillance and control over ubiquitous payments.
- "130 countries, representing 98 percent of global GDP, are exploring a CBDC. In May 2020, only 35 countries were considering a CBDC. A new high of 64 countries are in an advanced phase of exploration (development, pilot, or launch)."
- "19 of the G20 countries are now in the advanced stage of CBDC development. Of those, 9 countries are already in pilot. Nearly every G20 country has made significant progress and invested new resources in these projects over the past six months."
- "11 countries have fully launched a digital currency. China’s pilot, which currently reaches 260 million people, is being tested in over 200 scenarios, some of which include public transit, stimulus payments and e-commerce."
"CBDCs were introduced even earlier than in Nigeria in Caribbean countries, for example in the Bahamas and nations and territories that share the currency of the Eastern Caribbean dollar. The Sand Dollar of the Bahamas was the first central bank digital currency of the world upon its launch in 2019 and cleared the way for a rapid adoption around the region’s small nations."
- "The European Central Bank is on track to begin its pilot for the digital euro. Over 20 other countries will take steps towards piloting their CBDCs in 2023. Australia, Thailand and Russia intend to continue pilot testing. India and Brazil plan to launch in 2024."
- "In the US, progress on retail CBDC has stalled. However, other G7 banks, including the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are developing CBDC prototypes and consulting the public and private sectors on privacy and financial stability issues."
- "The US is, however, moving forward on a wholesale (bank-to-bank) CBDC. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the G7 sanctions response, wholesale CBDC developments have doubled. There are currently 12 cross-border wholesale CBDC projects."