The Bank of International Settlements' (BIS) 2023 Survey Reveals That 94% of Central Banks Are Working on a CBDC And More Than Half Want to Control Your Money

According to the survey, the BIS estimates there could be six additional retail and nine wholesale CBDCs publicly circulating by 2030 -- this is fewer retail CBDCs than were predicted last year.

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS), the central bank of and for the central banks, issued a report on June 14, 2024, discussing the results of its 2023 survey of CBDCs, cryptocurrency, and stable coins. The report is titled, “Embracing diversity, advancing together – results of the 2023 BIS survey on central bank digital currencies and crypto.”

According to the report, now 94% of the 86 central banks it surveyed are developing CBDCs, up 1% from the 2022 survey. According to the survey, the BIS estimates there could be six additional retail and nine wholesale CBDCs publicly circulating by 2030 -- this is fewer retail CBDCs than were predicted last year. This is good news. It indicates their progress slowed a bit.

On August 8, 2023, I reported on the result of the BIS’ 2022 Survey, and at that time it was reported that 93% of the Central Banks that the BIS surveyed were working on a CBDC.

The 2023 BIS Survey Results

The BIS’ June 14, 2024 report of the 2023 survey reveals that more than half and nearly 75% of the central banks surveyed want to control your money with a potential CBDC through holding limits or limits on balances. Other control mechanisms that are favored include: limits on transactions, embedded capital management measures, and programmable money. (See page 12 of the report.) There’s no question that CBDCs, by their nature, are designed to limit what you can buy and when you can buy it, and if or how much you can save or accumulate. They are designed to constrain the user in any way that the government or central bank wishes to constrain the user.

The BIS’ June 14, 2024 report defines “CBDC” as “a new form of digital money, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the central bank (BIS (2021)). If the CBDC is intended for use by households and firms for everyday transactions, it is referred to as a retail CBDC. A retail CBDC differs from existing forms of cashless payment instruments, such as credit transfers, direct debits, card payments and e-money, as it represents a direct claim on a central bank rather than a liability of a private financial institution.”

The report explains the difference represented by wholesale CBDCs: “Wholesale CBDCs are meant for use in transactions between banks, central banks and other financial institutions, so wholesale CBDCs would serve a similar role as today’s reserves or settlement balances held at central banks. However, wholesale CBDCs could allow financial institutions to access new functionalities enabled by tokenisation, such as composability and programmability (BIS (2023a)).”