More than 130 countries, representing 98% of global GDP, are now exploring or developing central bank digital currencies, according to the Atlantic Council CBDC Tracker. The technology promises to modernise payments, but has also raised concerns about privacy, financial surveillance, and the future role of commercial banks.
China: The Digital Yuan in Daily Use
China's e-CNY (digital yuan) remains the most advanced major CBDC project. Launched as a pilot in 2020, it has been expanded to over 25 cities and processed transactions worth more than 7 trillion yuan (approximately $960 billion) by the end of 2025. The People's Bank of China has integrated the digital yuan into public transport, government salary payments, and retail point-of-sale systems.
Despite its technical maturity, adoption among ordinary citizens has been slower than expected. Many Chinese consumers continue to prefer Alipay and WeChat Pay, which offer a wider range of features and merchant integrations. The government has responded by offering lottery-style incentives and requiring some government-to-person payments to be made in e-CNY.
Europe: The Digital Euro Enters Preparation Phase
The European Central Bank moved its digital euro project into the "preparation phase" in late 2025, a two-year stage focused on finalising rules and selecting technology providers. If approved by the European Parliament, the digital euro could launch as early as 2028.
Key design decisions remain unresolved. The ECB has proposed holding limits of 3,000 euros per person to prevent bank runs, where depositors might rapidly convert savings into risk-free digital euros during a financial crisis. Privacy advocates have pushed for offline payment capabilities that would not be recorded on any central database, similar to physical cash.
United Kingdom: The Digital Pound Consultation
The Bank of England and HM Treasury published a joint consultation on a potential "digital pound" in February 2023 and have been in the design phase since. No launch date has been confirmed, but the Bank has stated that a decision on whether to proceed will be made by 2025-2026.
The UK approach emphasises a "platform model" where the Bank of England would provide the core infrastructure, while private companies (banks, fintech firms) would build consumer-facing wallets and applications. This is intended to preserve innovation while maintaining monetary stability.
Australia: Project Acacia
The Reserve Bank of Australia completed its pilot programme, Project Acacia (formerly eAUD), in mid-2025. The pilot tested wholesale CBDC use cases including interbank settlements, tokenised asset trading, and cross-border payments. The RBA concluded that a wholesale CBDC could improve payment efficiency but was not yet necessary for retail consumers.
What CBDCs Mean for Savers
For ordinary people, a CBDC would function similarly to money in a bank account but would be a direct liability of the central bank rather than a commercial bank. This distinction matters during financial crises: CBDC balances would be risk-free, unlike bank deposits which are only insured up to certain limits (250,000 dollars in the US, 85,000 pounds in the UK).
However, CBDCs also raise privacy concerns. Unlike cash, digital currency transactions could potentially be monitored by central banks. Most CBDC designs include some level of transaction privacy, but the exact implementation varies by country. The digital yuan, for example, provides "controllable anonymity" - transactions below certain thresholds are private, but larger transactions can be reviewed by authorities.
For ongoing CBDC developments, visit the Bank for International Settlements CBDC hub.