105 central banks (unchanged from the end of May) have recently launched, piloted, experimented with and/or researched retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) not including two that started issuing retail CBDC and then shut the platforms down (Ecuador and Finland). Of note, Bolivia, which was added last month has been officially confirmed.
Keep in mind that I don’t count all of the individual national central banks that are part of currency unions (e.g., the European or Eastern Caribbean Currency Unions). If I did the tally that way, my count would be around the oft-quoted 130+ central banks (e.g., see the Atlantic Council’s CBDC Tracker). Also, the table was compiled from publicly available sources, including the media and central bank websites, and not verified through official channels. If I’m missing anything, or you find mistakes in the tabulation, please let me know in the comments!
Another thing to note is that I’m not currently including wholesale CBDC-backed retail tokenized deposits, like those being experimented with in the Banco do Brasil Drex proof-of-concept work, and South Korea’s recently launched “CBDC” pilots. I say “currently” because the retail payment instruments being tested do not seem be direct liabilities of the central bank, which means they don’t align with the BIS (2020) CBDC definition I go by (“a digital payment instrument, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the central bank”). However, I don’t know enough about the architectures of these projects from publicly-available information to know for sure whether the tokenized deposits are direct central bank liabilities. I would appreciate it if anyone out there can provide some clarity on this.
BTW for those who want a more historical view of CBDC developments I strongly recommend the CBDCTracker.org database, which is more accurate than its Atlantic Council counterpart, and more frequently updated.
Notes: The difference between a “pilot” and “proof of concept” (POC) is that a pilot involves actual users, whereas a POC does not, even though some POCs may involve central bank staff. (Again the Atlantic Council puffs up its numbers with a very loose definition of “pilot”.) Also, because the tabulation is based only on publicly-available information, it is likely that there is some POC activity in the “research” category, but no announcements have been made. Finally, entries that are crossed through indicate that the projects have been shut down. Also, the ones that are crossed out, are where the central bank has considered issuing CBDC but then decided to cancel the research or put it on hold (“watchful waiting”).
