• Provides a case study of China’s E-CNY, a central bank digital currency project led by the People’s Bank of China. • Analyses the development of the E-CNY as an instance of state capitalism in China. • Advances a framework for understanding state capitalism in the context of monetary production and payments. • Argues that the E-CNY features the hierarchical re-layering of the public–private institutions and infrastructures in China. • Shows how the E-CNY favours state-owned banks and puts private BigTech payment platforms in the service of the state. In human geography and political economy research, the recent proliferation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) is explained as the re-establishment of state power and authority in response to the digitalization of money and payments by private firms. Focusing on the most advanced CBDC project to date – China’s E-CNY – this paper builds on the limited work to date that has identified the importance of central banks to new state capitalism and does this by foregrounding payments and the rise of CBDCs. This paper combining and developing two literatures: recent work on state capitalism that foregrounds the economic roles of state institutions, especially in the contemporary period of geo-economic and technological competition; and longer-standing research that stresses the public–private hybridity of monetary production and payment systems. It is argued that while CBDCs are an instance of the new state capitalism to some extent, the E-CNY case demonstrates how distributed and relational state actions feature multiple institutions of different kinds. Given extant monetary production and digital payment infrastructures in China, the E-CNY project entails a distinctive institutional hybridity. To reposition itself in the ‘re-layered’ payment infrastructures of the E-CNY, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has reasserted the importance of state-owned banks (SoBs) within these infrastructures and redefined the roles of private banks and the leading BigTech firms which dominate the intermediation of digital payments.

Digital currency as a “watchdog”: Central bank digital currency and corporate misconduct

This study examined the influence of awareness, digital financial literacy, adequate digital infrastructure, and UPI’s integration on users’ intention to use Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), with likelihood of adoption as a mediating variable. This study utilized the UTAUT framework along with extension. Data were collected by utilizing convenience and snowball sampling from 415 respondents across the Eastern Region of India. The study has employed Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse the data, utilizing bootstrapping of 5000 samples to assess the path results. A significant influence of awareness, digital financial literacy, adequate digital infrastructure, and UPI’s integration in fostering likelihood of adoption and a strong relationship between likelihood of adoption and users’ intention was observed. It confirms that the likelihood of adoption significantly mediates the relationship between the established constructs and users’ intention to use CBDC. This study contributes to both theoretical and practical aspects by identifying the likelihood of adoption as a key factor in gathering behavioural intention. It provides policymakers with an opportunity to address concerns related to digital financial literacy, adequate digital infrastructure, and UPI integration to strengthen users’ adoption and usage of CBDC, ultimately leading to a more inclusive and efficient digital economy.

ABSTRACT Cryptocurrency trading has rapidly evolved into a highly dynamic and technology-driven financial domain, attracting significant attention from investors, researchers, and institutions worldwide. This paper presents a comprehensive review of modern cryptocurrency trading platforms by combining blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, and advanced trading mechanisms to create a secure, efficient, and scalable trading ecosystem. The study highlights the use of deep learning approaches such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), and attention-based models for improving cryptocurrency price prediction. These techniques utilize technical indicators, trading patterns, and social media data to enhance prediction accuracy. In addition, reinforcement learning strategies are explored to optimize trading decisions and improve performance under highly volatile market conditions. Furthermore, the paper discusses real-time data integration using APIs, secure authentication mechanisms, and scalable system architectures required for continuous trading operations. It also examines the regulatory landscape of cryptocurrency, particularly in the Indian context, including taxation policies and emerging concepts like Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Overall, this review provides insights into the development of intelligent, secure, and user-friendly cryptocurrency trading platforms such as CryptoVista. Keywords: Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Deep Learning, Reinforcement Learning, Smart Contracts, Real-Time Data, Trading Platforms, Security, Scalability, CBDC

The growth of financial technology has introduced Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which is basically a digital version of money issued by central banks. In this work, a blockchain-based system is proposed that uses QR codes and UID numbers to make transactions easier and more secure. Blockchain helps keep a proper record of transactions so they cannot be easily changed or tampered with. Using QR codes makes payments quick and simple, especially for everyday use. The system also uses smart contracts to handle processes automatically. Since everything runs on a decentralized network, it reduces dependency on a single authority and lowers the chances of fraud. At the same time, user privacy is maintained by storing only encrypted verification data instead of actual personal details.

Purpose This study aims to explore how central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) reshape the geopolitics of monetary sovereignty by shifting authority from private-led to state-driven payment infrastructures. It argues that sovereignty in monetary affairs must be understood not only as the legal prerogative to issue currency but also as control over the technological and institutional systems that underpin cross-border payments and settlements. Design/methodology/approach The study analyses two cases: the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub’s mBridge project and the embryonic, largely symbolic BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative. It builds on scholarship in currency hierarchies and infrastructural geopolitics to assess how these proposals may transform the geopolitical dynamics of payment infrastructures. Findings The cases show that CBDCs can incrementally reconfigure power within an international monetary system long anchored in US dollar dominance and Western-centric private utilities such as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, the New York Clearing House Interbank Payments System and Continuous Linked Settlement. mBridge demonstrates how public governance can be embedded directly into code, contracts and consensus protocols, while BRICS highlights the symbolic projection of infrastructural autonomy. Research limitations/implications The findings suggest that although CBDCs can expand monetary sovereignty through infrastructural redesign, they also expose persistent structural constraints within the international monetary system. Moreover, US dollar dominance may be deeply connected to factors beyond payment infrastructures, such as global liquidity provision, the depth of US financial markets and strong network effects, which CBDCs alone may not overcome. Originality/value The study contributes by demonstrating that CBDCs function as infrastructural interventions with potential implications for geopolitics, while also linking debates on technological design to broader questions of monetary sovereignty.

Retail cryptocurrency adoption and the progress of Central Bank Digital Currencies

Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractMoney laundering poses serious risks for small open economies by weakening financial stability and reducing trust in the financial system. This paper investigates how central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) can enhance the enforcement of anti-money laundering (AML) policies in these economies. We develop a simple macroeconomic model to examine the trade-offs between stronger financial control and household welfare when digital enforcement tools are introduced. A dynamic model is constructed in which a representative household chooses consumption, labor, and foreign savings under a capital account that allows illicit transfers. The government enforces AML rules by increasing detection probability through CBDC infrastructure. The model compares scenarios with and without CBDCs to assess changes in behavior, illegal outflows, and welfare outcomes. The findings show that CBDCs can reduce money laundering by making transactions more transparent and harder to hide. As detection becomes more likely, the household’s incentive to move funds illegally declines, and the resulting loss of hidden income leads to slightly higher labor effort and lower consumption. The welfare effects depend on the balance between enforcement strength and households’ need for economic flexibility. Policymakers in small open economies can use CBDCs to improve the integrity of financial flows, especially when evasion risks are high. However, effective CBDC design must consider the trade-off between tighter control and households’ ability to manage their finances. This study provides one of the first theoretical frameworks showing how CBDCs reshape the interaction between financial transparency and household welfare in vulnerable economies.AcknowledgmentsWe sincerely thank the Academic Editor for their guidance and support throughout the review process. We are also grateful to the anonymous referees for their constructive and thoughtful comments, which significantly improved the quality of this manuscript.

In the digital economy era, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), as a new type of financial infrastructure, will also have an important impact on green development. In this paper, using the e-CNY pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment, we explore the effect of e-CNY issuance on urban green innovation and its intrinsic mechanism by constructing a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model. We found that the e-CNY pilot policy significantly increases the level of urban green innovation, and this effect gradually increases during the study period. The policy shows obvious regional heterogeneity, with more prominent policy effects in peripheral urban circles, central and eastern regions, resource-based areas, regions with high environmental attention, and regions with low digitalization levels. Mechanism analysis indicates that the e-CNY pilot policy enhances urban green innovation by improving digital financial level, optimizing resource allocation efficiency, and narrowing the digital divide. Further analysis reveals that green capital investment, the strength of intellectual property protection, and the level of green certification technology play significant moderating roles in this process. In addition, e-CNY pilot policy has a significant spatial spillover effect. Taking the e-CNY pilot policy as an entry point, this paper reveals the potential value and realization path of the CBDC in the field of green innovation. It provides both a theoretical basis for policy makers to enhance the e-CNY functional ecosystem and optimize pilot project designs, as well as practical guidance for accelerating China's green and low-carbon economic and social transformation amid the digital economy wave.

Since World War II, the US dollar (USD) has substantially increased its prominence in international financial systems, culminating in its position as the predominant currency, facilitating approximately 90% of global foreign exchange transactions. The reliance of most nations on the USD for international trade - particularly for oil, commodities, and other goods - has cemented its critical role in global finance and geopolitics. Hence, the usage of the USD supported and forged an economic and geopolitical function for the emitting country, the United States of America. The geopolitical implications and risks related to the USD hegemonic power in trade and financial transactions have become increasingly more striking, especially in recent decades and years. The sanctions imposed on Venezuela, Iran and more recently on Russia via the US dollar-dominated SWIFT payment system highlighted the potential threat posed by the USD hegemonic power in the global monetary system. However, in the new millennium, alternative digital currencies have begun to exert influence and have implicitly and explicitly posed a threat to that hegemony. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, for instance, have enabled international transactions without reliance on USD use. Additionally, the emergence of several multi-currency Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) would allow nations to conduct cross-border payments using various currencies without passing through the USD as an intermediary. Our paper explores the geopolitical implications of USD use on the international stage and examines the potential opportunities and threats posed by these new digital currencies for countries.

Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractCentral bank digital currency (CBDC) programs have rapidly shifted from experimentation to policy-critical infrastructure decisions, yet countries show strikingly uneven progress from research to pilots and implementation. This study aims to identify and explain the key structural, macroeconomic, technological, and ecosystem-related factors that differentiate CBDC initiatives advancing to pilot or implementation stages from those remaining in early research or being discontinued across countries worldwide. Using 161 CBDC projects across 109 countries (as of December 2024) and 10 project-, public interest-, technology-, and macroeconomic indicators, we estimate a Support Vector Machines classifier with GridSearchCV (5-fold) tuning and interpret the results using Shapley Additive exPlanations explainability. The raw outcome distribution was strongly imbalanced (83.85% in the early/cancelled class), so ADASYN balancing was applied, producing 270 observations with equal class shares and an 85/15 train–test split (229/41). The optimized SVM (RBF; C = 10, gamma = 10) achieved 93.90% cross-validated accuracy and 0.88 accuracy on the test set, indicating strong predictive performance on unseen data. Test-set metrics show an informative error profile: for class 1 (advanced projects), recall = 1.00 and F1 = 0.89, while for class 0 (early/cancelled), precision = 1.00 with recall = 0.75 (macro/weighted F1 = 0.88), implying that the model identifies all advanced projects but may misclassify around one-quarter of early/cancelled cases. SHAP ranks the strongest drivers as use-case direction, inflation, crypto adoption ranking, CBDC-related research output, and international participation, with mixed/wholesale projects, higher inflation, stronger scientific attention, and greater international involvement generally increasing the likelihood of advancement.

Relevance. The introduction of the digital ruble for business in Russia faces regulatory and infrastructural barriers. The transition to using digital currency requires time and resources, process restructuring, and the government is deliberately stretching the transition for several years to give banks and businesses time to adapt. Aim. To develop specific measures and a step-by-step plan for their implementation during the transition to the digital ruble for businesses, ensuring a high level of security and data protection. The main objectives of the study are to substantiate and classify the main problems of implementing the digital ruble; to study foreign experience; to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of the plan / roadmap. Materials and methods. Comparative legal analysis, system analysis and elements of the project approach. The empirical base consists of materials from advisory reports of the Bank of Russia, analytical reviews of international payment systems, and data from pilot projects on the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Results. The study systematized the main barriers to business, which were divided into two groups: legal and infrastructural. Studying the experience of other countries has shown that there are uniform technical standards, which requires adaptation to national specifics. The main practical result is a set of priority measures, including proposals for combining civil and banking legislation, the introduction of common API specifications and protocols for cross-platform interaction. A three-stage roadmap with performance indicators has been developed. Conclusions. The introduction of the digital ruble for business should be focused on strategy and the implementation of a set of measures to reduce the risk of uncertainty and the ability to adjust the business plan, with the transition to a payment system using the digital ruble.

This study focuses on how the introduction of digital currency, especially a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), might affect the institutional performance of monetary policy in Iraq. The study uses mixed methods research design, which is a combination of a thorough literature review and quantitative survey of upper and middle management at the Central Bank of Iraq. The results demonstrate the overall positive attitude to the adoption of digital currency and its ability to improve the effectiveness of monetary policy. Respondents recognize that it can have positive effects, such as enhancing financial inclusion, better transmission, and ease of use of non-standard monetary instruments such as negative interest rates. Nonetheless, they are also aware of the difficulties, including the possibility of decreasing the efficiency of traditional tools and higher volatility of financial markets. The research hypothesis is highly supported by the results of regression analysis that indicate statistically significant and positive relationship between digital currency adoption and perceived monetary policy effectiveness. This quantitative data, together with the qualitative contributions of the literature review and descriptive analysis, gives a strong basis of the interpretation of the implications of digital currencies on the monetary policy in Iraq. The research finds that an effective and properly developed CBDC can make monetary policy in Iraq much more effective. Nevertheless, the Central Bank of Iraq must pay keen attention to the possible difficulties and work out the necessary plans to avoid risks linked to the usage of digital currencies. Among the suggestions can be developed a comprehensive CBDC plan, the development of financial infrastructure, the promotion of public trust and awareness, the cooperation with interested stakeholders, and the constant monitoring and updating of the policy framework.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the key factors influencing central bank digital currency (CBDC) adoption by conducting a meta-analysis of scholarly literature. It introduces a novel keyword-network analysis framework using bibliometric metadata from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, validated through artificial intelligence (AI)-based topic modeling. Design/methodology/approach Grounded in the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) framework, this study identifies core and extended constructs related to CBDC adoption. It applies VOSviewer for keyword co-occurrence analysis on the bibliometric metadata and proposes a new method to calculate the relative importance of adoption factors based on link strength. This study also reveals dominant themes refined and validated through advanced AI-based topic modeling, signifying research trends on CBDC-adoption literature. Findings This study reveals dominant research themes, identified from topic keywords, demonstrating the breadth and depth of CBDC-adoption research and research trends on CBDC-adoption literature. Network-based weight calculations prioritized key adoption constructs such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, usefulness, awareness, financial literacy, acceptance, behavior, intention, attitude, adoption intention and regulation, offering a structured understanding of CBDC-adoption dynamics. Practical implications The findings provide valuable insights for policymakers, regulators and financial institutions by highlighting the critical variables that drive or hinder CBDC adoption. The proposed bibliometric-AI hybrid methodology offers a replicable model for future digital currency and FinTech adoption studies. Originality/value This research pioneers a bibliometric and AI-integrated methodology to classify CBDC-adoption factors systematically. It extends the literature by linking thematic clusters to adoption constructs using quantitative co-occurrence analysis and advanced topic modeling.

This paper attempts to provide an overview of the digitization of Malaysia’s financial ecosystem which began in the 1990s during the time of the “Asian Miracle.” Since then, the nation has weathered several financial storms to survive and thrive through prudence as well as the constant upgrading of its regulatory frameworks and keeping up with technology and innovation. In 2022, Malaysia collaborated with the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) to trial wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) together with three other participating central banks under Project Dunbar. In 2025, Malaysia undertook its own initiative under Project Mawar in partnership with BIS to develop its own CBDCs. Malaysia’s desire to digitize its financial ecosystem is not driven by dedollarization but by the fear of not wanting to be left behind technologically. This paper outlines how Malaysian regulators see the benefits as well as the challenges ahead for this small nation. Given that Malaysia has its own national priorities to consider while seeing an opportunity to be a forerunner in Islamic digital financing, will it be in a rush to do things the ASEAN Way? Past experiences and how it sees the future may play a role in the pace Malaysia chooses to take.

This article examines the strategic trajectory of dedollarization led by BRICS nations and the role of financial innovation in reimagining global monetary sovereignty in a multipolar world. While significant work has documented the rise of alternative currencies and payment systems, the strategic and institutional dimensions of BRICS-led statecraft remain under-explored. Drawing on a robust corpus of qualitative secondary data spanning 2010–2025, this study employs a novel, integrated framework that links strategic state motivations, institutional architecture, and technological enablers. Using comparative financial system mapping and thematic document analysis, we trace how BRICS has operationalized dedollarization via instruments such as local-currency trade, currency swaps, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Our findings suggest that while the US dollar remains as dominant currency globally, BRICS initiatives are producing significant, albeit incremental, shifts in global finance. We identify a dual dynamic of territorial diversification, where intra-bloc trade and lending increasingly utilize non-USD currencies, and functional innovation, where new digital payment platforms and CBDCs enable alternative payment rails. For example, the share of RMB in global payment systems has measurably increased from ~2% in 2019 to a peak of nearly 4.6% in late 2024, and over 90% of Russia-China bilateral trade is now settled in local currencies. This growth, however, has fluctuated, with recent reports indicating the share at ~3.5% in April 2025. The paper contributes a nuanced framework that offers clear foresight into how these BRICS actions may incrementally reshape the international monetary and financial system (IMFS), suggesting a gradual restructuring rather than a sudden rupture of dollar hegemony.

CBDC’s design implications for financial stability

THE E-RUPEE: A ROADMAP FOR INDIA’S DIGITAL CURRENCY Asif Pasha A B, Student, LL.M., School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) (India) Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2026.v04.59 The introduction of the e-Rupee, India’s proposed Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), represents a significant milestone in the evolution of sovereign The introduction of the e-Rupee, India’s proposed Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), represents a significant milestone in the evolution of sovereign digital money. As economies across the world increasingly move toward digital financial systems, CBDCs have emerged as a state-backed alternative to private cryptocurrencies and existing electronic payment mechanisms.

Fast payment systems and central bank digital currencies: Evidence from Pix and the Drex in Brazil

In a recent influential paper, Schilling et al. (2024) caution that the introduction of a central bank digital currency gives rise to a central bank trilemma in a nominal version of the quintessential Diamond and Dybvig (1983) model of bank-runs. Specifically, the central bank can achieve at most two out of three policy objectives: attaining the socially efficient allocation, financial stability, and price stability. We show that the central bank can employ a natural policy to evade their concerns. In particular, the central bank can create debt, backed by assets, to provide to patient runners. Giving patient households the option to save, rather than spend, with a safe asset solves the inflationary pressures of a run. The key mechanism is thus liability composition: accommodating safe‑asset demand without monetizing goods‑market demand.