Monetary innovations in financial history: Lessons for CBDC design.
Online, Feb-June 2024.

A new webinar series has been launched devoted to putting CBDCs in historical perspective.

The announcement of the digital euro and the widespread discussions surrounding Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) have sparked an important debate about the future of monetary systems. With central banks’ liabilities becoming accessible even to ordinary citizens, there is the concrete possibility that central banks’ IOUs and traditional banks’ deposits can be seen as substitutes instead of as complementary. This could compel banks to transform their business models, with potential global structural effects on the financial system. In response to this prospect, many experts have suggested seizing the opportunity presented by CBCs to fundamentally redesign the public-private partnership that governs monetary creation. This partnership has evolved in various forms throughout history and has seen its boundaries shift as a consequence of both monetary and policy innovations. This webinar series provides a platform to revisit, from a historical perspective, some of the key moments that have shaped the evolution of this partnership over time, to draw lessons for CBC design and monetary innovation, and to reflect more generally on the nature of money as an institution.