Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Monetary Macroeconomic Analysis

This paper analyses the macroeconomic aspects related to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to understand how they could affect both monetary policy implementation and its transmission mechanisms. It also investigates how the acceleration of CBDC projects can be an effective response to the consequences of a fragmentation of globalisation. The first section presents the scope and challenges of a digital euro, as imagined by the European Central Bank. The second section analyses the central banks’ considerations about introducing a CBDC in the United States and the United Kingdom. The third section investigates the effects a CBDC implies for the monetary policy decisions of a central bank in the global economy. The fourth section considers various possible implications of a CBDC for the banking sector, as regards in particular the market for financial services. The fifth section examines some important geopolitical issues that influence the struggle for international financial and currency hegemony.