Borradores de Economia
Number:
1311
Published:
Classification JEL:
D60, E41, E42, E43, E58, G21
Keywords:
CBDC (23722), Optimal design (25025), Anonymity (25026), Security (25027), Digital currency (25028), Cashless economy (25029)
The most recent
Anne Brockmeyer, Francois Gerard, Gabriel Ulyssea, Linda Wu, Marcelo Bergolo, Rodrigo Ceni González, Bernard Kirui, Andrea Lopez-Luzuriaga, Leonardo Fabio Morales, Andrea Sofía Otero-Cortés, Nadine Riedel, Matias Tapia, Tanisa Tawichsri, Verena Wiedemann
Marlon Salazar, Andrés Salazar-Mejía, Jorge Daniel Guevara-Acevedo, Juan David Duitama-Correa
Aarón Levi Garavito-Acosta, Wilmer Martinez-Rivera, Camilo González-Sabogal, Johanna Barbosa-Buitrago, Nathaly Vergel-Serrano
Abstract
We examine the optimal design of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) by focusing on two key features: the anonymity-security trade-off and the remuneration (i.e., interest rate). Building on the extended model by Agur et al. (2022), which accounts for potential negative externalities associated with the anonymity of payment methods, we incorporate the possibility of multiple CBDCs into the framework. Our findings reveal that with optimally designed CBDCs and when anonymity costs are significant, a cashless economy is the preferred choice for the central bank. Furthermore, irrespective of anonymity costs, an economy with cash and one or more CBDCs is welfare dominated by a cashless economy with one additional CBDC. These results underscore the exibility and welfare-enhancing potential of CBDCs compared to cash in modern payment systems.
The research is relevant in the current context, given the interest of some central banks in exploring CBDCs as one of the possible alternatives to the digitalization of payments.