Central Bank Digital Currencies: The Global Race for Digital Money

The People's Bank of China initiated research into a central bank digital currency under Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, becoming the first major central bank to explore digital fiat currency. The project, later named Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), laid the foundation for the digital renminbi.

The State Council of China approved the development of the Digital Currency Electronic Payment system, partnering with commercial banks, Ant Group, Tencent, Huawei, and JD.com for research and testing. The approval signaled China's intent to create the first major economy CBDC.

The People's Bank of China began public testing of the digital renminbi in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu, and Xiong'an. State-owned banks distributed digital yuan to consumers through lottery systems, testing reliability, stability, and anti-money laundering controls in real-world retail environments.

The Central Bank of the Bahamas officially launched the Sand Dollar, the world's first nationwide central bank digital currency. The Sand Dollar was designed to increase financial inclusion across the country's 700 islands, where many residents lacked access to traditional banking services.

President Muhammadu Buhari launched the eNaira, Africa's first central bank digital currency. The eNaira was designed to increase financial inclusion, facilitate remittances, and reduce cash usage, though adoption remained below 0.5% of the Nigerian population within the first year.

The digital renminbi was used as the primary cash equivalent across venues and media centers of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, marking its largest global showcase. Foreign athletes, journalists, and visitors used digital yuan wallets for the first time, demonstrating the currency's cross-border usability.

The Reserve Bank of India launched its digital rupee retail pilot (eRupee) in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Bhubaneswar with participating banks. The pilot followed a wholesale digital rupee test in November 2022 and positioned India among the largest economies trialing CBDCs.

The Federal Reserve launched FedNow, an instant payment service enabling real-time interbank settlement across the United States. While not a retail CBDC, FedNow represented the US central bank's primary initiative in digital payments infrastructure, processing eligible transactions 24/7/365 with immediate funds availability.

The mBridge project, a joint CBDC initiative between the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the UAE, reached minimum viable product stage for cross-border multi-CBDC payments. The project demonstrated that multiple CBDCs could interoperate for faster, cheaper international settlements.

The European Central Bank's Governing Council decided to move the digital euro project to its preparation phase after a two-year investigation period. The ECB began developing rules for distribution, privacy standards, and offline functionality for a potential digital euro issuance.

The US Congress passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which included Section 1101 prohibiting the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital asset that is a direct liability of the Federal Reserve System and widely available to the general public, effectively constraining a US retail CBDC at the federal level.

On July 10, 2026, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law without President Donald Trump's signature, under the constitutional provision that enacts a bill after 10 days of presidential inaction. The law bars the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency until December 31, 2030, after Trump had refused to sign the bill while demanding a separate elections bill. The provision makes the United States the first major economy to statutorily prohibit a retail digital dollar, ending years of standalone anti-CBDC bills that had stalled in Congress.

On September 1, 2026, Russia began the mass production rollout of its digital ruble central bank digital currency, moving the retail CBDC beyond pilot testing. The 22 largest banks and large retailers were required to support it, and Russian Railways began accepting the digital ruble for payments. The launch coincided with the effective date of Russia's first comprehensive crypto law. The wallet system links every wallet directly to a citizen's state identity, raising privacy concerns even as adoption expands.

The European Central Bank's Eurosystem launched Pontes, a distributed ledger technology system linking market DLT platforms to TARGET services, allowing banks to settle wholesale trades in tokenized stocks and bonds in central bank money. Thirteen institutions including Deutsche Bank, Santander, Societe Generale, KfW and the European Investment Bank completed onboarding at launch, alongside four ledger operators including Clearstream. The ECB also began preparatory work to invest a small portion of its own funds in tokenized securities settled through the platform, the first Eurosystem production bridge between tokenized markets and central bank money.