Italy is in the pilot phase.

CBDC History and Development

In 2021, the Bank of Italy published a report discussing technical design choices for the digital euro, or CBDC for the Eurozone. The report notes that the Bank of Italy piloted a project referred to as “itCoin.” The project was a platform based on Bitcoin’s code where the biggest differences were that the issuance of currency was controlled by the European Central Bank, the code was controlled and operated by the European Central Bank, and both block latency and transaction volume were increased. The Bank of Italy also explored the idea of expanding the TIPS system to take on CBDC-like capabilities.

In 2022, the Bank of Italy issued a call for proposals concerning the use of distributed ledger technology in banking and finance “with particular reference to solutions capable of ensuring the final settlement of payments in central bank money.” While it should be taken with a grain of salt, this description could be reasonably be inferred to be taken as describing a CBDC. That is especially the case because “Project Leonidas” was one of the selected proposals and described as a wholesale CBDC.

From July 2023 to December 2023, the Bank of Italy supported the development of Project Leonidas. The project was run, however, by the Italian Banking Association—a trade association—in collaboration with R3, NTT DATA, and 17 banks. The Italian Banking Association published an update on Project Leonidas in 2024. The six-month pilot tested how distributed ledger technology could be used to settle simulated transactions with a wholesale CBDC.

Human Rights and Civil Liberties Concerns

Italy is generally rated favorably, but there have been reports of issues around the treatment of human rights and civil liberties. However, most of those issues do not tie directly into the issuance or use of a CBDC. Furthermore, it must be said that the ability of the Italian government to abuse a CBDC directly is debatable because the CBDC that would be used in Italy would be provided by the European Central Bank—representing the European Union. With that said, 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.