The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) announced an open call for private sector entities to join the second phase of its Digital Turkish Lira Research and Development Project. The focus will be on developing innovative central bank digital currency (CBDC) applications in such areas as tokenization, programmable payments, self-sovereign identity, interoperability with existing systems, and machine-to-machine payments. Selected applicants will be invited to participate in sandbox experiments with the CBRT and its technology partners, furthering the development of digital currency infrastructure in Turkey. [Source: CBRT]
I’ve updated my tabulation of the 110 central banks that have recently conducted launched, piloted, experimented with and/or researched retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). This total is up one since the end-July update on account of the addition of Serbia. It doesn’t include the two that started issuing retail CBDC and then shut the platforms down (Ecuador and Finland). 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).
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.
BTW for those who want a more historical view of CBDC developments I strongly recommend the CBDCTracker.org database.
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”).
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I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
