Bulgaria CBDC Tracker

Bulgaria is in the research phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) development. It seems the Bulgarian government started looking into CBDCs while beginning to prepare to join the Eurozone in 2026. It’s unlikely it will make any major move ahead of this transition.

CBDC History and Development

Speaking to Politico in June 2025, Governor Dimitar Radev said the digital euro adds “a layer of strategic thinking, particularly in the payments and technology domains” as Bulgaria enters the Eurozone. Radev further said that Bulgaria had been actively participating in the discussion around the CBDC. Radev said, “Any digital euro must respect European values, including the right to privacy.”

Human Rights and Civil Liberties Concerns

Bulgaria earned a 78 out of 100 in Freedom House’s 2025 Freedom in the World report. The most pressing problems relate to government pressure and corruption. However, it must be said that the ability of the Bulgarian government to abuse a CBDC directly is debatable because the CBDC that would be used in Bulgaria 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.

Freedom House reported that “Even though the media sector remains pluralistic, many outlets are dependent on financial contributions from the state through advertising, effectively resulting in pressure to run government-friendly material.” Unfortunately, a CBDC could be used as another tool in this effort. Across the world, governments have often turned to freezing and seizing the money of activists, political rivals, and protestors to undermine the opposition. A CBDC would make such initiatives easier by allowing governments to take direct control of each citizen’s finances.

“The chief prosecutor’s office does not effectively prosecute high-level corruption, often using such proceedings against politicians and high-level officials as a political tool,” according to Freedom House. The existence of pervasive corruption is a major concern with CBDCs because it calls into question any promises that might be made by the government to limit surveillance, control, or other risks of CBDCs. Furthermore, the existence of corruption calls into question whether CBDC policies might be designed to exert political favoritism through subsidies, price controls, or other targeted restrictions.

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.