OK I’m technically not a central banker, so let me give you my take. https://twitter.com/lorcanrk/status/1352997397425762307

1.Retail CBDC is a way to give consumers access to a payment instrument that has the convenience of modern digital interfaces and the safety of being a claim on a central bank. (Wholesale CBDC is a completely different discussion).

2.If banknotes keep declining, a world without CBDC is one where financial institutions, but not citizens, can access the central bank balance sheet. Is it safe? Does it support trust in the currency? Is it politically acceptable?

3.Some consumers will use CBDC, some will not, and it’s fine. There has always been a diversity of payment instruments. Some are public, most are private. This will not change.

4.Yes, CBDC can also facilitate fiscal transfers. By empowering fiscal policy, it’s in itself good for central banks.

Can interest-bearing CBDC help monetary transmission? The jury is out. Maybe yes. I once called it precision surgery on the Euler equation - sorry for the pedantry. But it may have side effects. To be studied further. And it’s a monetary policy, not a payment discussion.

http://5.In  any case, as @Lagarde recently noted, we are not there. Much work remains to be done to make CBDC architectures resilient to fraud and cyber attacks, and protective of privacy.