wCBDC (Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency)

Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency is a digital form of central bank money designed for use by financial institutions and large market participants in interbank settlements, securities transactions, and cross-border payments, distinct from retail CBDCs intended for general public use.

wCBDC enables instant settlement of large-value transactions on distributed ledger technology, potentially replacing or complementing existing real-time gross settlement systems. Central banks including the Bank of England, Monetary Authority of Singapore, European Central Bank, and Swiss National Bank are actively experimenting with wCBDC through BIS Innovation Hub projects like Project Agorá, which explores tokenized commercial bank deposits and wholesale CBDC for cross-border settlements.

Wholesale CBDCs offer potential benefits including 24/7 settlement availability, atomic delivery-versus-payment for tokenized securities, reduced counterparty risk through central bank settlement finality, and programmability through smart contracts. Unlike retail CBDCs which raise privacy, financial inclusion, and monetary policy transmission concerns, wCBDCs operate within existing institutional financial infrastructure with established anti-money laundering and regulatory oversight frameworks.