Proposing an interval design feature to Central Bank Digital Currencies

We are witnessing the creation of a new class of financial market products in the form of Central Bank Digital Currencies. While those instruments are still at an embryonic stage and their final form and shape is still unknown, it is already obvious that they are extremely flexible instruments due to their potential digital features. This paper adds to the extensive and rapidly growing literature by proposing a new type of Central Bank Digital Currency with an embedded time-limitation design feature based on a validity interval within which time-period the digital currency is an effective claim against the central bank. We call this interval Central Bank Digital Currency. Focusing on four use cases, we analyze the merits of the proposed interval design feature. We find that there are several potential applications in the context of liquidity management, lending, monetary policy of central banks and derivative transactions. It can be argued that interval CBDC have several potential advantages, including the reduction of counterparty credit risk, enabling remuneration, and enlarging the monetary and fiscal toolkit.