Penetration of CBDC in selected countries worldwide in 2023
A collection of different sources suggests that CBDC penetration in those countries that already have one available for consumer use has been low. By the end of 2022, the market share was below one percent in all of the countries that either have a CBDC in production or were very advanced in their pilot testing. That said, it is difficult to map out the exact market size of central bank digital currencies, or digital variants of FX such as the U.S. dollar or euro and which may rely on blockchain technology, throughout the world, largely as very little openly exist by 2023. CBDC became an increasingly trending topic since 2021, after cryptocurrencies and stablecoins - digital coins built on the blockchain - grabbed news headlines. An important difference between crypto and CBDC, however, is that the first is decentralized. Cryptocurrencies and stablecoins are issued by private hands or companies, sometimes as a protest against monetary authorities. CBDC, on the other hand, come from monetary authorities and are meant to be a digital variant of already existing FX.