The Bank for International Settlements, in collaboration with Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Sveriges Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank, published two papers on the legal and system design considerations for central bank digital currencies (CBDC).
The Legal aspects of retail CBDCs paper examines some key legal questions that may need to be addressed by any jurisdiction considering issuing a retail CBDC but does not attempt to provide definitive answers to those questions. It focuses on four areas: the legal classification of retail CBDC; the obligations and liabilities of participants in the retail CBDC ecosystem; privacy and financial crime; and cross-border issues.
The CBDCs: System design paper provides some perspectives on overall system design and then focuses on four key issues for designing a well-functioning retail CBDC system: privacy, cybersecurity (including quantum computing), offline functionality; and point of sale considerations.