The history of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) is brief and recent, marked by continuous exploration and development. As of June 2023, over 100 countries were actively engaged in CBDC research, with 11 countries, territories or currency unions having launched CBDCs, and 21 implementing CBDCs within their pilot programs by October 2023.
Bahamas
On 20 October 2020, the Central Bank of the Bahamas introduced the "Sand Dollar" as a digital legal currency equivalent to the traditional Bahamian dollar.
Brazil
The Central Bank of Brazil was developing a digital version of the Brazilian sovereign currency, known as Drex, based on the guidelines established in May 2021, and aiming to release the CBDC by the end of 2014. It received praise from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its role in driving financial innovation and expanding digital financial services in Latin America.
China
Since 2014, China's central bank has been working on a project called DCEP (Digital Currency Electronic Payment) or digital renminbi, often also referred to as the "digital yuan" as it would be backed by the yuan.
At the end of 2017, the China's central bank organized a number of banks and institutions to jointly develop the DCEP system. In April 2020, DCEP began to be tested in four big Chinese cities: Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong'an and Chengdu.
The Shenzhen and Suzhou trials chose participants through a lottery, enabling them to use the DCEP in designated specific areas. The Shenzhen trial only included online payment functionalities, generally using QR codes like Alipay and WeChat Pay. However, along with online payments, the Suzhou trials also enabled the users to make near-field communication (NFC) offline payments. This feature was originally designed for people in rural areas who do not have reliable internet access.
After the successful CBDC pilot, Suzhou City Municipal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the New York-based blockchain startup, Cypherium for the company to help the city in the development of products in the city.
At the end of 2021 there were 261 million users in the extended trial who had made US$13.8 billion of transactions It has also been rolled out for foreign attendees at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where it has seen limited use due to entrenched digital currencies and Visa, as well as lack of publicity.
On March 31, 2022, People's Bank of China announced that the testing has been further expanded to six additional regions: Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and six cities in the province of Zhejiang that are hosting the 2022 Asian Games (Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing, and Jinhua). Another news statement from PBOC shows that the city of Beijing and Zhangjiakou are also being included on the list of testing after the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Eastern Caribbean
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) launched the CBDC known as "DCash" in March 2021 to Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia, becoming the first CBDC to be introduced in a currency union. It subsequently rolled out the CBDC to the rest of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, including St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Montserrat and Anguilla.