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Comparing Means of Payment: What Role for a Central Bank Digital Currency?, Accessible Data

Graph 1: Value of currency in circulation, in billions as of December 31 of each year
Year $1 $2 $5 $10 $20 $50 $100
1998 $7.0 $1.2 $8.0 $14.3 $90.9 $50.5 $320.1
1999 $7.5 $1.2 $9.0 $16.2 $116.1 $64.7 $386.2
2000 $7.7 $1.2 $8.9 $14.5 $98.6 $55.0 $377.7
2001 $7.8 $1.3 $9.2 $14.7 $100.9 $57.0 $421.1
2002 $8.0 $1.3 $9.4 $14.9 $103.7 $58.5 $458.7
2003 $8.2 $1.3 $9.7 $15.1 $107.8 $59.9 $487.8
2004 $8.3 $1.4 $9.8 $15.1 $107.6 $60.6 $516.7
2005 $8.8 $1.5 $10.3 $15.5 $115.4 $62.1 $545.0
2006 $9.0 $1.5 $10.5 $16.0 $119.2 $62.8 $564.1
2007 $9.3 $1.6 $10.8 $16.2 $121.8 $63.0 $569.3
2008 $9.5 $1.7 $11.0 $16.3 $125.1 $64.7 $625.0
2009 $9.6 $1.7 $11.2 $16.2 $127.5 $65.3 $656.4
2010 $9.7 $1.8 $11.5 $16.6 $130.6 $66.9 $704.6
2011 $10.0 $1.9 $11.8 $17.2 $141.1 $69.6 $782.6
2012 $10.3 $2.0 $12.2 $17.7 $148.9 $72.5 $863.1
2013 $10.6 $2.1 $12.7 $18.5 $155.0 $74.5 $924.7
2014 $11.0 $2.2 $13.1 $18.9 $162.2 $76.9 $1,014.5
2015 $11.4 $2.3 $13.7 $19.0 $171.3 $79.8 $1,082.2
2016 $11.7 $2.3 $14.2 $19.2 $177.2 $83.5 $1,154.8
2017 $12.1 $2.4 $14.8 $19.6 $183.8 $86.4 $1,251.7
2018 $12.4 $2.5 $15.3 $20.1 $188.5 $89.2 $1,343.5
2019 $12.7 $2.7 $15.8 $20.9 $190.5 $92.3 $1,424.7

Note: currency denominations are displayed in order with $100 on the top and $1 on the bottom.

Source: Federal Reserve Board, https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/coin_data.htm

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Figure 1: Comparison of central bank payment mechanisms
Payment mechanism Accessibility Anonymity Bearer instrument Independence Operational efficiency Programmability Service availability
Cash 5.0 5 5 5 1 1 5
CBDC 4.9 4 5 4 5 5 5
RTGS 4.7 1 1 1 4 3 4.99
RTGS+ 4.8 1 1 3 4 4 4.99

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Figure 2: Cash-equivalent CBDC
Cash substitute Accessibility Anonymity Bearer instrument Independence Operational efficiency Programmability Service availability
Cash 5 5 5 5 1 1 5
CBDC 4.9 4 5 4 3 3 5
RTGS 4.7 1 1 1 4 3 4.99
RTGS+ 4.75 1 1 3 4 4 4.99

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Figure 3: Account-based CBDC
CBDC account Accessibility Anonymity Bearer instrument Independence Operational efficiency Programmability Service availability
Cash 5 5 5 5 1 1 5
CBDC 4.9 3 1 4 5 5 5
RTGS 4.7 1 1 1 4 3 4.99
RTGS+ 4.75 1 1 3 4 4 4.99

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Figure 4: Hybrid CBDC
Tiered CBDC structure Accessibility Anonymity Bearer instrument Independence Operational efficiency Programmability Service availability
Cash 5 5 5 5 1 1 5
CBDC 4.7 1 1 3 5 5 4.99
RTGS 4.7 1 1 1 4 3 4.99
RTGS+ 4.75 1 1 3 4 4 4.99

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Last Update: April 12, 2021