Trust, Technology, and Retail CBDC Demand

What drives household demand for a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC)? Although a growing literature examines CBDC adoption or potential holdings separately,whether these two margins share the same determinants remains largely unexplored. Using an online survey experiment on a nationally representative sample of 2,879 South Korean adults, we show that trust in the central bank and familiarity with digital financial services are strongly associated with CBDC adoption, whereas desired holdings are more closely related to lifecycle wealth. We further identify a compounding barrier to adoption: the interaction of privacy concerns with preferences for private-sector financial provision generates resistance exceeding their individual effects. These findings suggest that retail CBDC demand is multidimensional, and that the policy levers for encouraging adoption differ from those for managing CBDC holdings in circulation.