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As of late 2025, only three countries have fully launched a retail CBDC: the Bahamas (Sand Dollar), Jamaica (Jam-Dex), and Nigeria (eNaira).

China's digital yuan (e-CNY) remains the world's largest pilot, while India's e-rupee is the second-largest, both expanding use cases and offline functionality in 2025.

There's a notable shift in emphasis from consumer-focused retail pilots to wholesale CBDCs for interbank and cross-border settlements. Projects like mBridge (connecting China, Thailand, UAE, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia) are now operational and reducing transaction times from days to seconds.