US Consumers and CBDCs

Recently, Maiden Labs has released a study of US consumer attitudes to a US retail CBDC. Through interviews and surveys, the company looked at the major pain points for users in the US payments system and how a CBDC might overcome them. Here’s a quick summary of what Maiden Labs found.

The biggest point was uncertainty surrounding transactions and the lack of consumer control. Consumers are worried about hidden fees and clarity about when transactions are complete and the status of their accounts. So, consumers want fast, clear, and secure transactions via a CBDC.

Consumers, especially the unbanked, distrust banks because of their surprise fees relating to transactions and accounts and banks’ discrimination against those with poor or nonexistent credit histories. Users want to use CBDCs without having to go to a bank and set up an account.

Users making remittances are not upset by fees but by poor user experiences. The hassles of making remittances, combined with all the uncertainties involved in the transaction (mentioned above), are the most upsetting for users. A CBDC needs to make the process simple and transparent.

Small and medium sized enterprises are not interested in being early adopters of a new payment system. They will wait until customers demand merchant provision of CBDC services.

Lastly, US consumers are not that worried about financial privacy. They would prefer that the government not have access to their financial information, but they accept the lack of privacy as a fact of life. They want their data protected as much as possible, however. So, in a CBDC, security is more important than anonymity.

As can be seen, US consumers have slightly different priorities than many CBDC developers.