Bitcoin glossary
CBDC
Central Bank Digital Currency — state digital money, Bitcoin’s mirror image.
A CBDC is a digital currency issued directly by a central bank. Where Bitcoin is permissionless, supply-capped and censorship-resistant, a CBDC is the opposite by design: programmable, surveillable and controlled by its issuer — capabilities central banks describe as features.
Over a hundred countries are researching or piloting one. The debate around them has made Bitcoin’s properties — neutrality, privacy, fixed rules — easier to explain by contrast.