Central Bank Digital Currency Data Use and Privacy Protection

Fintech Notes, August 30, 2024

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Canonical URL: Central Bank Digital Currency Data Use and Privacy Protection

Authors: Kieran P Murphy, Tao Sun, Yong Sarah Zhou, Natsuki Tsuda, Nicolas Zhang, Victor Budau, Frankosiligi Solomon, Kathleen Kao, Morana Vucinic, Kristina Miggiani
Published: August 30, 2024
Series: Fintech Notes
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400286971.063

This note offers a framework to help countries navigate, as well as tools to help them manage, the trade-offs between CBDC data use and privacy protection.
Scope: addresses retail CBDC; data access and privacy-preserving considerations in a wholesale environment are similar to those of traditional RTGS systems.
Emphasis areas: institutional arrangements, data collection, access and storage policies, design choices, and technological solutions.
Central insight: at a given level of preference for privacy, central banks can facilitate better use of CBDC data through robust transparency and accountability arrangements, sound policies, and judicious adoption of privacy-by-design approaches including the use of privacy-enhancing technologies.

Retail CBDC raises trade-offs between data use and privacy protection that require systematic frameworks and tools.
Data access and privacy-preserving considerations for wholesale CBDC are akin to those for traditional RTGS systems.
Institutional arrangements (transparency and accountability) materially affect the ability to use CBDC data while preserving privacy.
Design choices and technology (including privacy-enhancing technologies) are central levers for reconciling data utility and privacy.

Establish robust transparency and accountability arrangements to enable better use of CBDC data within chosen privacy preferences.
Adopt sound policies on data collection, access, and storage that align with legal and institutional frameworks.
Apply privacy-by-design principles in CBDC architecture to limit unnecessary data exposure.
Consider privacy-enhancing technologies as part of the design toolkit to balance analytics needs and privacy protections.

Privacy-by-design approaches are emphasized as a primary method to reconcile data use and privacy protection.
Privacy-enhancing technologies should be judiciously adopted to support policy objectives while respecting privacy preferences.
Design choices influence the scope of data collection, the granularity of accessible data, and the technical feasibility of privacy protections.

Institutional arrangements determine accountability and transparency, which in turn affect public trust and permissible uses of CBDC data.
Clear policies on data collection, access, and storage are necessary to operationalize privacy preferences and legal requirements.
Central banks play a coordinating role in setting standards and practices consistent with national objectives for privacy and data use.

Authors: Kieran P Murphy, Tao Sun, Yong Sarah Zhou, Natsuki Tsuda, Nicolas Zhang, Victor Budau, Frankosiligi Solomon, Kathleen Kao, Morana Vucinic, Kristina Miggiani
Date: August 30, 2024
Series: Fintech Notes No 2024/004
Issue: 004
Volume: 2024
Pages: 51
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400286971.063
ISBN: 9798400286971
ISSN: 2664-5912
Subjects: Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), Central Bank digital currencies, Crime, Data processing, Digital financial services, Economic and financial statistics, Financial markets, Payment systems, Technology
Keywords: Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), CBDC, CBDC data, CBDC design, CBDC stakeholder, Central Bank digital currencies, central banks, data privacy, Data processing, data use, Digital financial services, Europe, Global, IMF Fintech Note 2024/004, Payment systems, privacy protection, technology, trust

Central Bank Digital Currency Data Use and Privacy Protection, Fintech Notes 2024/004, IMF, August 30, 2024.