Selected Legal Considerations for Central Bank Digital Currencies
Fintech Notes, November 11, 2025
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- Selected Legal Considerations for Central Bank Digital Currencies
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Marianne Bechara, Adrian Dorel Dumitrescu Pasecinic, Tomoyuki Kubota
- Published: November 11, 2025
- Series: Fintech Notes
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229028004.063
Summary
- Purpose: Discuss selected legal considerations for retail CBDC (rCBDC) and wholesale CBDC (wCBDC).
- Scope for rCBDC:
- Mechanisms through which rCBDC is sanctioned as a currency.
- Legal basis for rCBDC issuance and provision of a payment platform.
- Central bank’s mandate to regulate rCBDC service providers.
- Nature and impact of legal relationships in the rCBDC landscape to help central banks assess potential legal risks.
- Consideration of specific rCBDC design features: holding and transaction limits, fee caps, interest accrual, programmability, and offline capabilities.
- Scope for wCBDC:
- Legal nature of wCBDC.
- Central bank’s mandate to issue wCBDC and to operate its platform (whether directly or through third parties).
- Legal relationship between the central bank and users.
- Settlement finality of wCBDC transactions.
Retail CBDC (rCBDC) — Key Legal Considerations
- Legal recognition and sanctioning as a currency:
- Mechanisms for conferring currency status on rCBDC are examined.
- Issuance and payment platform legal basis:
- Legal foundations for issuing rCBDC and for providing the associated payment platform are analyzed.
- Regulation of intermediaries:
- Central bank mandate to regulate rCBDC service providers is discussed.
- Legal relationships and risk assessment:
- The chapter examines the nature and impact of legal relationships across the rCBDC ecosystem to assist central banks in assessing legal risks.
- Design-feature legal implications:
- Holding and transaction limits.
- Fee caps.
- Interest accrual.
- Programmability.
- Offline capabilities.
Wholesale CBDC (wCBDC) — Key Legal Considerations
- Legal nature of wCBDC:
- The legal characterization of wCBDC is addressed.
- Mandate and platform operation:
- Central bank’s mandate to issue wCBDC and to operate its platform, directly or via third parties, is analyzed.
- Legal relationships with users:
- Legal relationship between the central bank and users of wCBDC is considered.
- Settlement finality:
- Legal issues surrounding settlement finality of wCBDC transactions are examined.
Content in this bundle
- Selected Legal Considerations for Central Bank Digital Currencies