What does the future hold for central bank digital currencies?

Many of the world's central banks – including the Bank of England – have expressed an interest in creating their own digital currencies. Shivani Khandekar looks at the state of play in central bank digital currencies.

A worker shows China's digital currency on a smartphone
China is leading the way in central bank digital currencies
(Image credit: © VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

State-backed digital currencies are often touted as the “future of money”, with several economies at least discussing their adoption, driven partly by concerns about competition from private cryptocurrencies.

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are a virtual form of fiat currency issued and regulated by the central bank of a country. Although both cryptocurrencies and CBDCs lack physical presence, the former are decentralised and backed by blockchain technology, whereas the latter remain under the control of the central bank.

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Shivani Khandekar

Shivani Khandekar is a writer and journalist based in London. She has worked with CNBC in India as a news producer, and also wrote on subjects ranging from governance and health to business and the economy. 

As a 20-year-old undergraduate studying economics, she covered India’s union budget from the parliament, which drove her to take up journalism as a career. 

She has extensively researched the Bhopal gas tragedy, writing a thesis on it for India’s former Planning Commission, the apex think-tank of the government. 

She is an alumna of Delhi University and St. Xavier’s College, India, and is currently studying for an MA in Financial Journalism at City University of London. 

A history buff, Shivani likes to spend her spare time exploring cities, understanding their art and culture and binge reading non-fiction books. Her work has appeared in CNBC-TV18 and Business Standard.  Follow Shivani on Twitter – @shivanik30