Exploring Consumer Sentiment on Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Twitter Analysis from 2021 to 2023

Abstract

Between the worldwide digital currencies one can also pinpoint those of central banks being a part of the move towards a cashless society. Several worldwide central banks are already planning to issue them, while others are conducting studies on them. Literature of the topic is heavily increasing, including understanding central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), their risks, and central banks’ future position towards them. This paper analyzes Twitter data tagged with the “cbdc” hashtag and posted between January 2021 and January 2023, with the aim of highlighting the change regarding citizens’ perceptions towards central banks’ digital currencies. The authors extracted 124,946 positive, negative and neutral tweets from Twitter which they further analyzed by using a Python script, in the end highlighting different views on the potential benefits and drawbacks of CBDCs. The results show a growing debate and discussion around the use of CBDCs, with citizens expressing concerns about their potential consequences on civil liberties and financial control, while others highlight the benefits of CBDCs such as financial inclusion and tackling money laundering and terrorism. The paper enriches literature related to the study of consumer sentiment towards digital currencies, highlighting the significance of social media platforms for sharing opinions on emerging financial technologies. Central banks can use social media tools to shift citizens’ sentiments and perspectives, including on topics such as CBDCs, by publishing explainers, replying to comments on relevant topics, and increasing posts’ numbers, as they analyze whether and how CBDCs will be implemented. Research on consumer sentiment on this topic is useful as it can help central banks in adapting their strategies accordingly so that they can better achieve their objectives.