Most central banks across the world are studying or testing a CBDC. So far, only four countries have introduced a CBDC available to the general public. In Europe, there are none.

Norges Bank cooperates with several of the central banks that are studying CBDCs. For instance, in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and central banks in Sweden and Israel, we have developed and tested a prototype for making cross-border payments using CBDC.

Norges Bank also participates in a Nordic project organised by the BIS that is exploring how CBDC solutions can be used for transactions in situations where there is no contact with the system where the public’s holdings of CBDC are registered. Such functions must be in place if the CBDC is to function as a contingency solution.

Bank for International Settlements on Project Icebreaker.