More than half of the world’s CBs are conducting experiments or working on a CBDC pilot. Almost a quarter of all CBs are already piloting their retail CBDC projects.

Geoeconomically, nations within emerging markets and developing economies are leading CBDC adoption. Their share in piloting the retail (29%) and wholesale (16%) CBDCs almost doubles that of advanced economies, which stands at 18% and 10%, respectively.

Both developing and advanced economies mostly share the motivation behind their CBDC projects — financial stability and cross-border payments efficiency. However, developing countries are more often driven by financial inclusion reasons.