The Technology of Retail Central Bank Digital Currency

16 Pages Posted: 27 Mar 2020

See all articles by Raphael Auer

Raphael Auer

Bank for International Settlements (BIS)

Rainer Böhme

University of Innsbruck; University of Münster - Department of Information Systems; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - MIT Media Laboratory; ICSI Berkeley; TU Dresden

Date Written: March 1, 2020

Abstract

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) promise to provide cash-like safety and convenience for peer-to-peer payments. To do so, they must be resilient and accessible. They should also safeguard the user's privacy, while allowing for effective law enforcement. Different technical designs satisfy these attributes to varying degrees, depending on whether they feature intermediaries, a conventional or distributed infrastructure, account- or token-based access, and retail interlinkages across borders. We set out the underlying trade-offs and the related hierarchy of design choices.

JEL Classification: E42, E44, E51, E58, G21, G28

Suggested Citation

Auer, Raphael and Böhme, Rainer, The Technology of Retail Central Bank Digital Currency (March 1, 2020). BIS Quarterly Review, March 2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3561198

Raphael Auer (Contact Author)

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) ( email )

Rainer Böhme

University of Innsbruck ( email )

Technikerstraße 21A
Innsbruck, Innsbruck 6020
Austria

HOME PAGE: http://informationsecurity.uibk.ac.at/people/rainer-boehme/

University of Münster - Department of Information Systems ( email )

Leonardo-Campus 3
Muenster, NRW D-48143
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.wi.uni-muenster.de/security/

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - MIT Media Laboratory ( email )

20 Ames St.
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
United States

ICSI Berkeley ( email )

1947 Center Street, Ste. 600
Berkeley, CA 94704
United States

TU Dresden ( email )

Dresden, 01062
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
5,513
Abstract Views
12,614
Rank
2,832
PlumX Metrics