In countries around the world, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are poised to change the way average citizens use money. In the coming decade, billions of people are likely to use CBDCs—a new type of currency run on a centralized ledger—to do everything from pay taxes to buy groceries to receive welfare checks.
Once seen as a technology of the future, CBDCs—along with other digital payment innovations—garnered new attention during the pandemic as governments explored how they might better exchange money with banks and consumers. But unlike Bitcoin and other private cryptocurrencies that promote ideals of decentralization, CBDCs are intended to leave the state very much in control.
