
Central banks worldwide have to make many choices during the design and implementation of digital central bank money (CBDCs). It must be prevented that large amounts are transferred simultaneously from private to public money, which can lead to self-fulfilling effects and financial instability. A study by the US Treasury’s Office of Financial Research suggests that these risks of CBDCs may be smaller than they appear. There seems to be yet another tradeoff central banks have to consider: between maturity mismatch of commercial banks on the one hand, and the benefit of real-time information on the other.