Alternative Assets & Financial Technology
CBDCs in 2026: The Digital Euro, the e-CNY and the Stablecoin Alternative
Three retail CBDCs are live and almost nobody uses them, the digital euro has 36 pilot providers and a possible 2029 launch, China's e-CNY now pays interest, and the United States banned the federal version outright. 2026 did not produce one digital future of money — it produced four kinds competing for different layers of the system.