CBDC is short for Central Bank Digital Currency , which is the proposed new digital version of a fiat money that is issued by the central bank of a country.
The discussion on the topic is nascent and the various facets involved are under careful consideration.
Central banks already use digital money in the form of traditional reserves, but CBDC is different from that.
In a report released in March, the Basel, Switzerland-based Bank of International Settlements attempted to define CBDC as "a digital form of central bank money that is different from balances in traditional reserve or settlement accounts."
A Bank of England working paper released in May defined CBDC as "any electronic, fiat liability of a central bank that can be used to settle payments, or as a store of value."
CBDC is also known as Digital Base Money.
Central banks in the UK, Sweden, Euro Area, Canada, China and India are among those who are exploring the feasibility of a CBDC.
If implemented, a CBDC would be a claim on the central bank issuing it.
A main difference that CBDC would have from cryptocurrencies is that the former would be centralized unlike the latter.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.