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Dr Joanna Mucha-Kujawa
ORCID: 0000-0002-3898-0425

Assistant professor at the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences and at the Department of Private Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the EWSPA in Warsaw; former secretary of the Editorial Board of the "Studia Prawnicze" quarterly of the INP PAN for many years; author of publications in the field of civil law.

 
DOI: 10.33226/0137-5490.2024.1.5
JEL: K150, K200

Money has existed in civilization for thousands years. The development of money has passed through various stages in accordance with time, place and circumstances and was linked to the growth in world trade and commerce. Next to cash came up non-cash payment transactions. In a dynamically changing environment, which is becoming increasingly digital, also financial area is undergoing transformations. One of its manifestations is progressive evolution of forms of noncash payments and emergence and intensive development of cryptocurrencies, based on blockchain technology. In recent years, an observed phenomenon is the work undertaken by central banks on the concept of issuing a new form of money – Central Bank Digital Currency. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) are a new, future form of money that can greatly increase the efficiency of payment and settlement systems in domestic and international financial markets. While CBDCs have to bring many benefits, there are also potential and real risks associated with them. One of them is the danger of complete loss of financial privacy for people making transactions using digital money.

Keywords: Central Bank Digital Currencies; payment services; cryptocurrencies; Central Bank; right to privacy