ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Central Bank Digital Currency

A central bank digital currency is like a make-believe coin that only exists on the internet, and it's made by the people who run the country's money, called the central bank. They want to make this coin so that it can be used to buy things just like real money.

So, let's say you want to buy a toy from the store. You can use real money, like coins and bills, or you can use your digital coin that you got from the central bank. Just like when you give real money to the store, you give your digital coin to the store to buy the toy.

The central bank can make sure the digital coin is safe by using something called blockchain technology. That means they keep track of all the digital coins so that nobody can steal them or use them more than once. It's like a big book that the central bank keeps that has all the information about every digital coin.

The central bank also wants to make sure that nobody can just make up any old digital coin and use it to buy things. That's why they'll put security measures in place to make sure it's really their digital coin and not a fake one.

Some people think digital coins might be better than real money because they're faster and easier to use. For example, if you want to buy something online, you can just use your digital coin instead of having to go to the bank and get real money.

Overall, a central bank digital currency is like a special kind of money that only exists on the internet, and it's made by the people who run the country's money to make it easier for people to buy things.