Chapter 1 explores how CBDCs can enhance financial inclusion by providing essential financial services to those without traditional banking access, emphasising the role of transaction accounts as a gateway to broader economic participation. It acknowledges the complexity of achieving inclusion, noting that while CBDCs may address accessibility, they cannot solve the deeper issue of absolute lack of funds for the globally unbanked 1.7 billion people.

Chapter 2 discusses the role of CBDCs in monetary policy, highlighting their potential to enhance policy effectiveness by enabling actions below the effective lower bound and countering alternative payment methods like cryptocurrencies. It explains how CBDCs could be instrumental in both expansionary and contractionary monetary policies, aiming to stimulate growth or control inflation, respectively.

Chapter 3 tackles the critical issue of privacy in the context of CBDCs, examining the balance between the need for transactional oversight to combat financial crime and the individual's right to privacy. It discusses the technological possibilities for privacy within CBDC systems and emphasises the importance of design choices in cryptographic techniques to maintain privacy without sacrificing the benefits of digital currencies.

Chapter 4 distinguishes between CBDCs and cryptocurrencies, emphasising their coexistence and different underlying principles: CBDCs are centralised digital forms of state currency aiming to enhance monetary policy and financial system efficiency, while cryptocurrencies are decentralised, often volatile investment assets that can also be used for payments.