Digital Currency and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

Rise of digital currencies: Digital currency is an alternative to cash for quick electronic money transfer and available exclusively in electronic form. It differs from the electronic currency, can’t take physical form but dominates most countries’ financial systems. Digital currency never leaves a computer network, and is exchanged exclusively via digital means.

Types : Digital currency has three main varieties—cryptocurrency, stablecoins and CBDCs (central bank digital currency). Blockchain technology provides the foundation for cryptocurrency through distributed ledger used by digital currencies. The first cryptocurrency was created by Satoshi Nakamoto— the pseudonym for a group of anonymous computer programmers— on January 3, 2009 and Bitcoin software was made available to the public!

As of March 2024, 13,217 cryptocurrencies existed in the world; discounting the “dead,” 8,985 cryptos were active. Around 420 million users worldwide use cryptocurrency; Japan, Thailand, Mexico, Russia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Philippines and Pakistan have the highest adoption.