Reconciling the Atlantic Council CBDC Tracker with My Tabulations

The Atlantic Council publishes a CBDC Tracker that aspires to be the definitive record of publicly announced central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects. However, it publishes with headline numbers that are significantly higher than those implied by my retail and wholesale CBDC tabulations. The Atlantic Council CBDC Tracker recently reported that 105 countries were exploring, whereas I count 86 central banks that are authorized to issue CBDC.

I’ve plodded through their graphic and I think I have nailed down the most of the difference, a combination of double counting and including some central banks that, in my opinion,  are not exploring CBDC:

• I count the Eurozone as one “country” because only the European Central Bank is authorized to issue currency there, whereas the Atlantic Council counts all nine national central banks conducting CBDC projects.
• Similarly I count the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union as one because only the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank can issue currency there, whereas the Atlantic Council counts seven of the national central banks, although counts Anguilla separately even though they’re part of the Union.

If I follow that scheme my count would go from 86 to 101. Then there are six countries that the Atlantic Council includes that I don’t:

• Belarus, Belize, and Senegal, where private and/or government-owned banks were piloting digital currencies with the central bank’s blessing.
• Venezuela, where the government (not the central bank) issued the Petro, with no apparent central bank backing or involvement.
• Fiji and Vanuatu, which were focus of a digital currency research effort by Japanese Fintech firm Soramitsu, commissioned by NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting with the blessing of the Japanese government. (Solomon Islands and Tonga were part of the project too, but for some reason were left off the Atlantic Council Tracker.)

Those would take my total to 107, but then the Atlantic Council missed five projects from my tabulation: Bangladesh, Paraguay, Qatar, Sudan and Yemen, takes it to 112, so go figure!

If anyone can help me with the reconciliation, please let me know in the comments!

BNP Paribas issues tokenized bond for EDF on public blockchain

BNP Paribas structured and tokenized a project finance bond on the public Ethereum blockchain. The proceeds were used to fund solar energy projects through Électricité de France Energies Nouvelles Reparties (EDF ENR), which helps businesses and individuals install solar panels. [Read more at Ledger Insights]

Upcoming events I’m affiliated with:

The CBDC Think Tank, in partnership with the International Monetary Fund and George Washington University, is hosting a full-day in-person CBDC Masterclass on October 12 in Washington DC. The sessions are designed as instructional deep dives with full presentations and Q&A components.  [Register here]