Exploring the Impact of Central Bank Digital Currencies on Global Financial Systems

In several jurisdictions, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are no longer a subject of conceptual debate but a live payment instrument. The design is mixed method. Thirty economies were observed as a balanced panel over 2019 to 2025, yielding 210 country-year observations, and each was placed in one of four stages of CBDC development (launched, pilot, development or research). Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, correlation analysis and fixed-effects panel regression were applied to this panel. Three further analyses supported it: a comparison of cross-border payment costs, a deposit-substitution scenario analysis and a structured survey of 240 financial-sector experts. Higher scores on the CBDC Readiness Index went with greater financial inclusion (β = 0.0042, p < .001) and higher payment efficiency (β = 0.284, p < .001), and with lower cross-border remittance cost (β = −0.036, p < .001). Bank deposit growth showed no significant link with CBDC readiness (β = −0.021, p = .243). Nor did financial stability scores differ across development stages (F = 0.84, p = .484). Under normal conditions, the scenarios suggest, holding limits paired with tiered remuneration hold deposit outflows below 2.5 per cent; in a stress episode with no safeguards in place, outflows may pass 22 per cent. The experts saw payment efficiency (M = 4.31) and financial inclusion (M = 4.12) as the largest benefits and named privacy and cyber-security as their chief concerns. CBDCs, the study concludes, can strengthen payment systems and widen access to finance, provided their design builds in calibrated safeguards, interoperable standards and robust data governance.