The phrase "central bank digital currency" (CBDC) has been used to refer to various proposals involving digital currency issued by a central bank. A report by the Bank for International Settlements states that, although the term "central bank digital currency" is not well-defined, "it is envisioned by most to be a new form of central bank money [...] that is different from balances in traditional reserve or settlement accounts."Central bank digital currencies are also called digital fiat currencies or digital base money.The present concept of CBDCs was directly inspired by Bitcoin, but a CBDC is different from virtual currency and cryptocurrency, which are not issued by a state and lack the legal tender status declared by the government. CBDC implementations will likely not need or use any sort of distributed ledger such as a blockchain.CBDCs mostly remain in the hypothetical stage, with some proof-of-concept programmes; however, more than 80% of central banks are looking at digital currencies. China's digital RMB was the first digital currency to be issued by a major economy. History Although...