A central bank digital currency: digital money that is a direct liability of the central bank, the same issuer behind physical banknotes. Projects distribute it through banks and payment providers rather than accounts at the central bank itself. Three countries have fully launched one, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Nigeria, while dozens more sit in design or pilot stages.

Which country has banned CBDC?

The United States is the outlier in the banked set. Executive Order 14178, published 31 January 2025, directs measures including prohibiting the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use of a CBDC within the United States. That is the administration's stated posture, recorded as stated. No other jurisdiction in the banked research set carries a prohibition position.

What Is a CBDC? Central Bank Digital Currency, Defined

The definition, by who owes you the money

The cleanest definition of a CBDC does not start with technology. It starts with the liability. One US executive order defines the term in its own text. A form of digital money or monetary value. Denominated in the national unit of account. A direct liability of the central bank ^[1]. That last clause is the entire concept. A CBDC is central bank money, in digital form. The same institution that owes you the banknote owes you the CBDC.

The issuing authorities describe it the same way. The European Central Bank says the digital euro would be central bank money, issued and guaranteed by the Eurosystem ^[2]. The Bank of Jamaica calls CBDC money issued by the central bank in digital form ^[4]. The Bahamas describes the SandDollar as issued by its central bank ^[5]. The issuer is the constant. The technology is the variable.

What a CBDC is not, by the same test. It is not the balance in a commercial bank account. That is a liability of the bank. And it is not a stablecoin. That is a liability of a private issuer. The comparison page holds the contrast across six criteria, each sourced.

Distribution: intermediated, not central accounts

No major project puts ordinary holders in a direct account at the central bank. The distribution model is intermediated. The ECB describes digital euro holdings in an account at a bank or a public intermediary ^[2]. Supervised payment providers play a key role in distribution ^[2]. Jamaica’s CBDC lives in wallets issued by banks and authorized payment service providers ^[4]. The Bahamas issues through authorized financial institutions ^[5]. The pattern repeats across projects. The central bank issues. Private intermediaries distribute and serve.

Where projects actually stand

Projects are not all in the same phase. The old version of this page carried a coming-soon framing. This one refuses it. Three countries have fully launched. The Bahamas went nationwide on 20 October 2020 ^[5]. Jamaica’s JAM-DEX is in national roll-out ^[4]. Nigeria’s eNaira is presented as legal tender by its central bank ^[6].

Others sit elsewhere. China’s e-CNY remains pilot-classified. Its scale now runs far beyond city trials. More than 3.4 billion retail transactions by December 2025, tracker-attributed ^[12]. The digital euro is in preparation. A potential first issuance during 2029, conditional on EU legislation ^[2]. The UK’s digital pound is in design phase. A decision on next steps is due in 2026 ^[3]. No issuance decision has been made ^[3]. India’s Digital Rupee is in pilot in both segments, per an FAQ dated 29 April 2026 ^[8]. Sweden completed a technical pilot in 2023. A government inquiry found insufficient social need ^[7]. A legislative question is now open ^[7]. Canada states it has no launch plans. It is building contingency capability instead ^[9].

The aggregate counts come from one named tracker. As of May 2026: 146 countries and currency unions exploring ^[12]. 77 in advanced phases. 41 pilots. The same three launched ^[12]. A BIS survey points the same direction. 91 percent of 93 surveyed central banks, published August 2025 ^[13]. Counts are database-reported figures. Each is attributed to its counter and date.

The United States: a prohibition posture

The US position is the outlier, and the primary text is the authority. Executive Order 14178 was published 31 January 2025 ^[1]. It directs measures to protect Americans from CBDC risks. Including prohibiting the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use of a CBDC in the United States ^[1]. This page records that as the administration’s stated position. It is not evidence about what CBDCs do. It is not treated as such.

A second US fact is observational, and exactly dated. The Federal Reserve’s dedicated CBDC web pages no longer exist. Archive captures pin the removal to a window. The last live snapshot of the canonical page falls on 30 June 2026 ^[11]. The first archived redirect on 12 July 2026 ^[11]. No motive is stated on any Fed surface the research read. The last-live page carried its own line. The Fed had made no decisions on whether to pursue a CBDC ^[10]. The removal is a fact. The reason is not. This page does not supply one.

What the old page got wrong

Three corrections from the audit of this page’s earlier version. The old copy said many central banks are exploring the possibility. The verified record spans every stage ^[12]. Launched. Paused. Prohibiting. The single-phase framing was wrong. The old copy grouped Sweden, the Bahamas, and the Marshall Islands as exploring. The Bahamas launched in 2020 ^[5]. Sweden paused in 2023 ^[7]. The grouping failed on both ends. The Marshall Islands claim was not re-verified. It is dropped rather than carried. And the old copy said CBDCs operate as legal tender, unqualified. Legal tender is jurisdiction-specific. Live in Jamaica and Nigeria ^[4] ^[6]. Statutory in India’s pilot ^[8]. Conditional on issuance for the digital euro ^[2]. Undecided for the pound ^[3]. One phrase cannot carry four legal states. This page never uses it without a jurisdiction attached.

Where this page sits

The dangers page holds the concerns debate. Documented design claims against speculative harms, each labeled. The regulation hub frames the private-issuer regimes running in parallel. The stablecoin intro defines the private instrument a CBDC is not. The token pages live at stablecoins.