Is Programmable Central Bank Digital Currency (PCBDC) Money? Some Remarks from the Ontology of Money Perspective

Łukasz Hardt

doi:10.26354/bb.9.2.99.2025

Published : 2025-08-29

Vol. 99 No. 2 (2025)

Is Programmable Central Bank Digital Currency (PCBDC) Money? Some Remarks from the Ontology of Money Perspective

Łukasz Hardt

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6542-5833

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26354/bb.9.2.99.2025

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to investigate whether programmable central bank digital currency (PCBDC) qualifies as money under different ontological theories of money. This study shows that according to the state theory, it qualifies as money, under the institutional theory, it has the potential to be money, and from the perspective of the credit theory, it is money but with important caveats. This paper refers to current debates regarding CBDCs, and by using the perspective offered by various ontological theories of money it sheds a new light on these issues.

Keywords:

Programmable central bank digital currency, PCBDC, digital money and finance, ontology and philosophy of money

JEL Codes

E42, E51, B52

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Hardt, Łukasz. (2025). Is Programmable Central Bank Digital Currency (PCBDC) Money? Some Remarks from the Ontology of Money Perspective. Safe Bank, 99(2), 157–168. https://doi.org/10.26354/bb.9.2.99.2025

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