Expansion of Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Comparative Analysis With Cash and Crypto-Assets

The research material is devoted to a review of scientific publications by Russian and foreign authors on the distribution of central bank digital currencies in comparison with cash and private crypto-assets. The subject of the study is the possibilities and risks of central bank digital currencies compared to cash and crypto-assets.The objectives of the study are to study the prerequisites for the transformation of the payment landscape in the world, analyze the economic opportunities and risks of using this type of monetary settlement, and build predictive use cases in the short and long term. The author uses comparative, analytical and statistical methods of a general scientific systematic approach. The review protocol covers databases (ResearchGate, Academia.edu, e-library, Google Scholar, BIS / IMF / ECB repositories), search queries in Russian and English, the period 2017–2025, and includes inclusion / exclusion criteria: peer-reviewed articles, central bank working papers and reports of international organizations (BIS, IMF, ECB, WEF); sources lacking scientific apparatus were excluded.Among the results of the study: systematization of the array of scientific data of domestic and foreign experts in the field of digital currencies (both secured and not secured by the state) obtained in the period from 2017 to 2025, fixation of real opportunities and potential risks of development, consolidation of gaps in the study of these forms of calculations. As a conclusion, the author establishes the need for a competent approach in the field of legal regulation of digital currencies in Russia. The complete transition to digital currencies of central banks, as well as the categorical rejection of cash forms of money, seems premature to the author