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This chapter examines the role of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in achieving the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs). Digitalisation is transforming the sustainable development landscape, and there is a need for central banks to play a major role in digital transformation for sustainable development. This topic is important to policymakers interested in how central bank innovation can help support SDGs’ realisation. This study is also relevant to researchers researching how a CBDC can be used to achieve SDGs. The author argued that a CBDC could unlock financing for each SDG, provide convenient access to capital and increase payment efficiency. CBDC can also increase the speed of transaction chains and provide greater capital efficiency for investment in sustainable development activities and projects. A CBDC can support realising the United Nations’ SDGs. Policymakers should ensure that the CBDC in their respective countries is designed to incorporate features that consider sustainable development concerns for attaining the United Nations’ SDGs. There has yet to be an attempt to assess how a CBDC can contribute to realising the United Nations’ SDGs. The literature needs to examine the opportunities CBDC presents for achieving SDGs.

Purpose: Nigeria is the first African country to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or fiat digital currency. The eNaira CBDC was issued as a money equivalent to be used along with paper Naira. This chapter identifies the features, opportunities and risks of the CBDC in Nigeria, also known as the eNaira.

Method: This chapter uses the discourse analysis method to assess the opportunities and risks of CBDC.

Findings: The opportunities which CBDC present to Nigeria include improved monetary policy transmission, convenience, efficient payments and increased financial inclusion. Some identified risks include digital illiteracy, increased propensity for cyber-attacks, data theft and the changing role of banks in a full-fledged CBDC economy.

Originality: This chapter contributes to the literature by evaluating the pros and cons of fiat digital currency such as a CBDC.

Purpose: This chapter aims to present the arguments for and against central bank digital currency (CBDC) increasing financial inclusion. Financial inclusion is one of the many reasons for issuing a CBDC.

Need for the study: There is a need to offer a critical perspective on the proposed financial inclusion benefits of CBDC. This is the first paper to present arguments supporting and statement against CBDC for financial inclusion.

Method: This chapter uses discourse analysis methodology to identify the arguments about CBDC promoting financial inclusion

Findings: The arguments in support of CBDC increasing financial inclusion are that CBDCs can digitise value chains, CBDCs can improve access to digital financial services, CBDCs can help to enlarge the digital economy, CBDCs can enhance the efficiency of digital payments, CBDCs can be used offline when there is no internet coverage, and CBDCs have low transaction costs. Some criticisms are that CBDC may not prioritise financial inclusion, a high price to purchase digital devices for holding a CBDC, non-interest-bearing CBDCs, the strong preference for cash over digital currency, the burdensome identification and regulatory requirements, and the imposition of transaction costs.

Implications: Overall, the arguments presented in this chapter show that there is still disagreement over whether a central bank’s digital currency can increase financial inclusion. Nevertheless, in the light of recent events, many central banks are determined to issue a CBDC for many reasons. Even though CBDCs do not achieve the intended financial inclusion objective, at least the other goals for publishing a CBDC will be performed, such as a significant reduction in cash management costs and the effective conduct of monetary policy.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to offer a discussion on the role played by Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in enhancing financial inclusion. The central interest of the study is to place CBDC on the financial inclusion landscape and provide insights on potential opportunities and barriers in making CBDC a strong building block of financial inclusion, as well as the digital financial system.

Design/methodology/approach: This chapter is a conceptual work that builds on relevant literature. This study identifies and suggests potential aspects that can help in the adoption of CBDC as a tool for financial inclusion.

Findings: This chapter analyses opportunities, barriers, and concerns for CBDC in the context of financial inclusion and discusses how critical functions of blockchain technology can lead to the acceptance and adoption of CBDC. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated how CBDC can pave the way for financial inclusion and benefit the existing financial system taking more people from financial exclusion towards financial inclusion.

Originality/value: This is evident that CBDCs and financial inclusion need to be intertwined to support upcoming technological transformations happening in the digital financial ecosystem. Therefore, CBDCs must be viewed from varying lenses to understand the relevance of including CBDCs in the financial system can be expanded. Further, repercussions from the given framework are suggested.

Technology has changed the future of money. The need to foster innovation in banking has been instigated by a shift from traditional finance provided by incumbents to fintech companies, such as challenger banks and decentralized platforms, offering new forms of money and payments services. The Bank of England has responded to this shift with the exploration of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which in its retail form, would give the public the opportunity for the first time to directly hold state central bank money. This CBDC proposal emerges in a landscape where private money such as cryptocurrencies are increasing in capacity of coins and in trading volume; in a crypto economy with an expanding market capital. This competition opens the possibilities to reform banking to adapt to new payments platforms such as blockchains with advanced features such as smart contracts. The proposed design of a CBDC can either compete or complement such innovations which is evaluated in this review chapter. The author argues that the plethora of public and private currencies on the market, once reached legal maturity in terms of governance, can provide the element of choice to consumers in an open, innovative, and competitive free market. The author put forward that the Bank of England must act to introduce a CBDC that is interoperable with innovative payment platforms including blockchains, accompanied by a user centric design, to participate in the ever adapting fintech economy.

Purpose: Central bank digital currency (CBDC) is non-physical or the digital equivalent of physical money issued by a central bank. Nigeria became the first African country to issue a CBDC, popularly known as the eNaira. This chapter highlights the redesign features that eNaira should possess to offer payment solutions and macroeconomic stability effectively.

Methodology: The chapter used discourse analysis to highlight the features the eNaira should possess.

Findings: The chapter suggests that the eNaira should have an interest-bearing status, have enhanced security features, and offer zero transaction costs on eNaira transactions. These are design features which the eNaira presently lacks.

Originality: This chapter is the first to suggest redesign features for an already issued CBDC. It is also the first to highlight the design features of a CBDC in the African continent.

This chapter reviews developments concerning central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). It introduces, analyzes, and discusses the potential implications of CBDCs on the existing cryptoassets landscape. The chapter also provides an overview of the different approaches to adopting and implementing this new form of money. Additionally, it compares traditional cryptocurrencies, privately issued stablecoins, fiat currencies, and CBDCs. Although vastly divergent opinions exist on digital money’s purpose, benefits, and use cases, CBDCs can provide opportunities for innovation and experimentation at a central bank and systemic level. CBDCs may pave the way for democratizing access to unbundled financial services while rethinking the overall purpose of money, monetary systems, and global business.

This paper aims to investigate the determinants of global interest in central bank digital currency (CBDC). It assessed whether global interest in sustainable development and cryptocurrency are determinants of global interest in CBDC.

Google Trends data were analyzed using two-stage least square regression estimation.

There is a significant positive relationship between global interest in sustainable development and global interest in CBDC. There is a significant positive relationship between global interest in cryptocurrency and global interest in the Nigeria eNaira CBDC. There is a significant negative relationship between global interest in CBDC and global interest in the eNaira CBDC. There is a significant positive relationship between global interest in CBDC and global interest in the China eCNY. There is a significant negative relationship between global interest in cryptocurrency and global interest in the Sand Dollar and DCash.

The literature has not empirically examined whether global interest in sustainable development and cryptocurrency are factors motivating global interest in CBDC. This study fills a gap in the literature by investigating whether global interest in sustainable development and cryptocurrency are factors motivating global interest in CBDC.

Central banks from more than 100 countries, representing 95% of the global financial output, are studying Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). CBDCs can potentially enable safe, efficient and inexpensive cross-border and cross-currency payments in today's interconnected financial system. However, a critical factor influencing their expansion is cross-border interoperability. Therefore, there is a high demand from central banks, researchers, computer scientists, policy- and decision-makers to explore this topic further. Its better understanding will improve information management, enhance the decision-making process, and result in the redesign of central banks' processes and products (digital currencies).

The authors investigate this novel and timely topic by conducting a Multivocal Systematic Literature Review (MSLR) on CBDCs cross-border interoperability. Additionally, the authors collect and analyze empirical data from various online resources such as CBDC trackers.

The authors conclude that although the academic literature on CBDC cross-border interoperability is very limited, valuable documents published by central banks and other entities discuss this issue and provide valuable insights. The authors paid particular attention to the reports published by the Bank of International Settlement (BIS) as it proposes three different models for CBDC cross-border interoperability. The study research reveals that most CBDC cross-border interoperability projects run by several central banks and other organizations explore these three BIS models. For this research, the authors performed an in-depth study of CBDC cross-border interoperability cases to investigate all three BIS models. The findings illustrate that although technical interoperability is feasible, plenty of work needs to be done in terms of standards and interfaces. In addition, other non-technical interoperability areas need to be explored and addressed, as there are concerns related to legal issues, regulations, jurisdictional boundaries, policy challenges and governance.

Research on CBDCs is progressing quickly, so, despite the authors’ use of an MSLR to identify the state-of-the-art, interested parties should be aware that new information is prone to appear imminently. Hence, this study work should be understood as a basis to build upon. Also, although the authors have included major academic databases in this study search, there is the possibility that a few papers may have been published in outlets that the authors have not covered. Finally, since the search in the grey literature returned thousands of hits, the authors had to define a stopping criterion for the documents to analyze.

The authors provide insights on the current state of CBDC cross-border interoperability, which is valuable to policy- and decision-makers currently assessing the situation and deciding on avenues to pursue.

The authors provide an integrated and critical view of the developments of CBDC cross-border interoperability, considering not only available academic literature but also fundamental documents from key institutions such as central banks and related organizations.

This paper aims to analyse the role of central bank digital currency (CBDC) in bank earnings management and focus on how CBDC activity might influence banks to engage in accrual earnings management using loan loss provisions (LLPs) and the implications for earnings quality.

The paper used conceptual discourse analysis to explain the role of CBDC in bank earnings management.

Banks will use accruals, such as LLPs, to manage earnings when CBDC-induced bank disintermediation leads to a reduction in bank deposits, a reduction in bank lending and a likely reduction in reported earnings. Bank managers will mitigate the reduction in reported earnings by lowering discretionary LLPs to increase reported earnings.

The recent emergence of CBDC in the digital currency universe has led to increased research interest on the role of CBDC in corporations and society. This study contributes to the literature by focusing on banks, and examining the effect of CBDC on bank earnings management.