The Adoption of Money Innovations: A Comparative Analysis

Since the Global Financial Crisis, money has been undergoing transformational changes. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the lesser-known stablecoins, powered by blockchain technology, have grown rapidly, allowing people to undertake financial transactions globally without central intermediaries. In addition, many countries have explored central bank digital currencies, which are digital representations of fiat monies controlled by national central banks. While descriptive studies on these money innovations abound, systematic analysis of their drivers is lacking. This paper offers the first systematic analysis of the conditions under which societies adopt these money innovations. Based on an original cross-country dataset capturing the extent to which money innovations have been deployed, regression analysis shows limited overlap in the significant drivers of these money innovations, aside from fundamental country characteristics including level of development, population size, and (to a lesser extent) regime type. Cryptocurrency use appears to be driven by macro-financial instability and lack of access to bank finance. In contrast, CBDC adoption by states appears to be driven by exposure to sanctions and previous experimentation with CBDC projects. While confirming the role of financial inclusion for cryptocurrency adoption, the findings partly challenge the official discourse of financial inclusion as a key motivation for CBDC adoption.