Central Bank Digital Currencies Analyzed in a Banking School versus Currency School Framework

This article analyses the justifications for the creation of central bank digital currencies – CBDCs – and their anticipated features with the aim of looking at them from two different and somewhat opposing perspectives. These perspectives define the two broad historical and logical currents that emerged in the Banking School versus the Currency School debates. We are going to investigate to which extent can the concept of CBDC be embedded into the Banking School’s body of thought and to which extent can it be criticized with the arguments of the Currency School.