Summary
Atlantic Council’s live tracker of global CBDC development. As of data capture: 130+ countries in some stage of CBDC research, development, or deployment. China’s digital yuan (e-CNY) is the most advanced major-economy CBDC.
Key Points
- 130+ countries have active CBDC programs at some stage.
- Most advanced: China (e-CNY, fully operational); several smaller countries have launched (Nigeria eNaira, Bahamas Sand Dollar, etc.).
- Major economies in pilot phase: EU (digital euro pilot), India, Japan.
- U.S. now explicitly blocked from retail CBDC by Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act (July 2025).
Newsletter Angles
- While the U.S. blocked itself from CBDCs, China is running the most advanced CBDC program in the world. This is the competitive context often missing from U.S. crypto coverage.
- The U.S. answer to CBDCs is private stablecoins (GENIUS Act). Whether this is better than a government CBDC depends on who you trust more.
Concepts Mentioned
- CBDC — this tracker is the primary quantitative source
- GENIUS Act — the U.S. alternative path
Notes
Live tracker — data changes continuously. The 130+ country figure should be treated as approximate; the tracker categorizes by research, pilot, launch phases with different counts for each.