Evolution of CBDC in the Context of the Institutional Theory of Money

Abstract

There is currently a lot of discussion about the economic essence and differences between cryptocurrencies and other forms of digital money. An analysis of modern forms of money interpretations within national and international financial institutions also showed that approving an established typology is premature. The article proposes to look at the process of evolution of money from the point of view of the institutional theory of money. Accordingly, the variety of modern forms of money is due to varying degrees of control over the possibilities of issuing and establishing the rules for the functioning of money on the part of the payment community. Suppose the emergence of cryptocurrencies makes it possible to include a large part of the payment community in the decision-making process about the future of the payment system. In that case, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are, on the contrary, the highest form of alienation of the payment community, in which all questions of the existence of money are concentrated in the hands of the Central Bank. Even the existence of the banking system, traditionally involved in money circulation, becomes unnecessary. At the same time, the authors also examine the positive consequences of the gradual implementation of blockchain-based central bank digital currency in the Russian public procurement system.