Canadians appear willing to embrace CBDC: Survey

Canadians seem open to CBDC adoption, but there’s still concerns about privacy, fraud, cyberattacks and loss of financial control

article-image

Primestock Photography/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

A recent survey suggests a majority of Canadians could be willing to adopt a central bank digital currency (CBDC), although there’s some hesitation due to privacy concerns.

Of the 1,500 Canadians above 18 years of age recently polled by WealthRocket, 59% were willing to use a CBDC. Only 5% exhibited strong willingness, however, and a quarter of respondents said they weren’t willing at all.

CBDCs are digital forms of money issued either directly to retail consumers or wholesale to institutions, regulated by the central bank.

There aren’t many CBDCs in the wild right now, but proponents have touted potential benefits including fast and easy digital payments without physical cash or intermediary banking partners.

The Bank of Canada started a public consultation on CBDCs in May. It isn’t planning to launch one right away, but they’re getting ready just in case Parliament asks for one.

Canadians reportedly expressed worries that the introduction of a CBDC could mean the end of physical cash. But the Bank of Canada maintains that cash will still be around. If a CBDC is introduced, it would just be an additional option alongside bills and coins, according to the central bank.

There were also worries about potential fraud, the risk of cyberattacks and a fear of losing control over their personal finances.

Still, the majority of respondents said they were confident that if a CBDC is implemented, the central bank will take appropriate measures to protect their privacy.

Not just Canadians: CBDC support spread globally

According to a survey conducted by Guardtime in 2021, there is global willingness to use a CBDC issued by one’s own central bank. 

The survey, which covered 10 countries including Germany, Singapore, South Africa, UAE, UK, US, France, Hong Kong, Sweden and Norway found 64% would be inclined to use a CBDC when it is initially launched. 

There was a smaller segment who stated they would not use a CBDC at all. These findings show that people have different views and opinions when it comes to using CBDCs in different countries.

“We need to prioritize education in a way that is slow, methodical, and transparent,” said Jennifer Lassiter, executive director of The Digital Dollar Project.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template (10).png

Research

Innovations on Aptos’ technical design through Raptr, Shardines, and Zaptos approach near-optimal latency and throughput by unlocking 100% utilization of network resources, with the capacity to settle 260k transactions per second with latencies less than 800ms. The original Move language was revamped with the launch of Move 2, supporting more expressivity in smart contract logic and a scalable ability to interact with high volume datasets. The ecosystem has benefitted from strong asset inflows, now hosting over $1.3B in stablecoins, $450M in bridged BTC, and $530M in RWAs. Activity in the Aptos ecosystem has grown notably over the past year, with monthly application revenue reaching ~$835k and monthly DEX volumes growing to over $5B, both at new all time highs.

article-image

Asset allocator says fee compression could be a challenge as Grayscale converts more crypto funds to ETFs

article-image

The Stripe-acquired firm has big plans for a streamlined, multi-wallet future

article-image

Both founders of the former crypto lender have now landed in new crypto industry roles

article-image

Bitcoin’s recent peak is a victory lap for curvers left and right

article-image

Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo says institutions are eager to get exposure to tokenization