Regulating Central Bank Digital Currencies: Towards a Conceptual Framework

Abstract Due to technological change and the rise of private digital currencies, more and more central banks are investigating the possibility of issuing their own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This paper develops a conceptual framework that illustrates how the issuance of CBDC and access to it can be regulated with various access models. To this end, it considers access models found in literature, existing legislations, lawsuits, and initiatives from around the world. The framework highlights that the regulation of CBDC encompasses two components: first, the regulation of the legal form of the CBDC; and second, the level of obligation, which indicates how legally binding the issuance and provision of access are for the central bank and any potentially involved third parties. In addition, the paper discusses the various regulatory options to determine how retail CBDC should be regulated. It argues that for a universally accessible retail CBDC, its issuance and provision of access to it must be obligatory for all parties involved.