Austria is considered to be in the research phase, according to reporting in Central Bank Payment News. However, this point is debatable because it was reported that the Oesterreichische Nationalbank is more so looking at the broader digitalization of money, than CBDCs specifically.

Austria ranks highly across many metrics, according to Freedom House. Furthermore, it must be said that the ability of the Austrian government to abuse a CBDC directly is debatable because the CBDC that would be used in Austria would be provided by the European Central Bank—representing the European Union. Even then, however, it’s important to recognize that the creation of a CBDC could open the door to risks to financial privacy and financial freedom.

For additional information on concerns regarding violations of human rights and civil liberties, see the following reports by Amnesty International, Financial Tyranny Index, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Privacy International, and the U.S. Department of State. For additional information on concerns regarding the risks of CBDCs, see the following webpage and report by the Cato Institute: The Risks of CBDCs and Central Bank Digital Currency: Assessing the Risks and Dispelling the Myths.

For additional information regarding metrics, the methodology page explains each of the data points and provides their respective sources.