How Central Banks Design Digital Currencies for the Public

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how central banks are designing digital currencies for everyday use. They unpack the Bank of England's 2025 'digital pound' pilot, which aims to process 30,000 transactions per second while preserving privacy. Lucas explains the tiered access model with a £20,000 individual holding limit, how the system avoids disrupting commercial banks by using a 'reverse waterfall' mechanism for automatic top-ups from linked accounts, and why the Bank chose a two-tier architecture where private firms handle user-facing wallets. Luna asks about the offline capability challenge and whether cash will disappear. The conversation also touches on the European Central Bank's digital euro progress and the political friction around privacy thresholds. A focused look at the specific design trade-offs central banks face when building retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) systems. #CentralBankDigitalCurrency #DigitalPound #CBDC #BankOfEngland #EuropeanCentralBank #DigitalEuro #RetailCBDC #TieredAccess #ReverseWaterfall #PaymentSystems #Privacy #FinancialInclusion #CashlessSociety #MonetaryPolicy #Economics #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #MoneySupply Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo