What CBDCs can learn from OSNs and viceversa: similarities, differences, and insights

While Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are typically discussed within the domains of monetary policy and payment systems, their design and adoption raise challenges that strongly resemble those faced by Online Social Networks (OSNs). Similar to existing online platforms, CBDCs represent largescale socio-technical infrastructures that must address a wide range of aspects, including user privacy preservation, security assurance, and the promotion of trust among users, even in the presence of potential misinformation. However, as their logic, specifications, technical requirements, and related dynamics are still being understood and defined, we argue that analyzing CBDCs through the lens of OSN research-by comparing concepts and studying similarities and differences-can help identify mutually transferable knowledge. As a consequence, this paper aims to identify conceptual similarities between CBDCs and OSNs by (i) offering a comparative analysis that highlights their analogies and distinctions, as well as (ii) deriving insights and formulating recommendations that could help shape potential research directions for future CBDC design while also offering new perspectives for OSNs.