Central Bank Digital Currencies, tracked in plain English
A maintained, sourced status board for the world's central bank digital currencies — the digital ruble, digital yuan, digital euro, digital dollar and more. What each is, what stage it's at, how it works, and what it means for the crypto market.
Digital Ruble
Piloting with real customers and banks; phased wider rollout legislated.
Read the explainer →Digital Yuan (e-CNY)
One of the largest CBDC pilots globally, running across many cities and use cases.
Read the explainer →Digital Euro
In a preparation phase; no decision yet taken to issue.
Read the explainer →Digital Dollar
Research and debate; no decision to issue a retail CBDC.
Read the explainer →eNaira
Live since 2021 — one of the first CBDCs from a large economy; adoption has been a challenge.
Read the explainer →Digital Rupee (e₹)
Retail and wholesale pilots running with banks and users.
Read the explainer →Sand Dollar
Live since 2020 — widely cited as the first fully deployed retail CBDC.
Read the explainer →DREX
Piloting a tokenised-settlement platform for the digital real.
Read the explainer →Digital Pound
In design phase; no decision to build has been taken.
Read the explainer →What is a CBDC?
A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is digital money issued by a central bank — a digital form of a national currency, and a direct liability of the state rather than of a commercial bank. It is centralised and government-controlled, which is the opposite of a decentralised cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin.
How CBDCs differ from crypto and stablecoins
Unlike Bitcoin or other crypto-assets, a CBDC is not decentralised and its supply is controlled by the issuing central bank. Unlike a stablecoin — a privately issued token that aims to hold a steady value, usually against a currency like the dollar — a CBDC is the currency in digital form, not a claim on private reserves. We explain these distinctions in our glossary and across Learn.
Each programme above links to a dated explainer with the issuer, current stage, timeline, how it works, and market implications — sourced from official central-bank publications.