Meeting Type:
In Person
Description:
As central banks explore issuing digital currencies for public use, a critical design challenge is how to protect the privacy of the granular data trails digital payments leave behind. While privacy is widely recognised as a goal, policy debates often frame it as a trade-off with crime prevention -- limiting ambition and reinforcing legacy design choices. This risks replicating the data practices of commercial platforms in public infrastructure. We propose a different path. Recent advances in privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) now enable both strong privacy protections and verifiable compliance through programmable, rule-based auditability. By embedding such capabilities directly into system architecture, central banks can make privacy a built-in feature of digital money, strengthening institutional trust. Building on recent research, we offer a conceptual framework and distil three design principles for privacy-protective CBDCs that remain compatible with enforcement needs. We also introduce a "PET dashboard" that maps specific technologies to CBDC system layers, highlighting where collaboration across central banks, academia, and industry is most needed. (Reception to follow.)
Contact Email:
fmi-events@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Last Updated:
Sept. 25, 2025, 10:12 a.m.