Manufacturing Monetary Futures: How Podcast-Influencers Shape Public Opinion on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

People around the globe are increasingly becoming familiar with Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). CBDCs are sometimes framed as complementing conventional systems and others as a possible replacement of neutral technological innovation. However, public debate shows that there are deep ideological divisions around surveillance, state power and individual autonomy. This article is an examination of the way CBDCs are constructed across three YouTube channels which represent different regimes: European Central Bank (ECB) and its institutional communication, Binance Studios with its market-aligned financial education, and Valuetainment with its populist-critical commentary. The article explores how public cognition is shaped through the language of the elite and counter-elite actors.

A qualitative Critical Discourse Analysis is conducted on three video transcripts and 312 highly engaged user-comments which are collected from the two videos where comments are enabled. Particular attention is given to the absence of audience interaction in the ECB video as public commenting is disabled. The analysis draws on Van Dijk’s (2006) [22] socio-cognitive theory of discourse and Fairclough’s (1995) [5] Critical Discourse Analysis along with Foucauldian concepts of governmentality. It focuses on metaphor, pronoun use and moral polarisation. The findings suggest that CBDCs are often used as ideological tools embodied in narratives of trust and control and not only as technical innovations. CBDCs are framed as public infrastructure by institutions and they are presented as the result of democratic process. Similarly, technological rationalisation depoliticises monetary power through market-aligned discourse. On the other hand, populist media view CBDCs as systemic tools through which institutional surveillance is practiced which raises concerns around morality and counter-elite epistemologies supported. The study argues that these discursive regimes position citizens as consumers or controlled subjects promoting a monetary citizenship. The article is a demonstration of the way public understanding around programmable money is constructed through the language used in digital spaces and raises awareness of the democratic risks communication strategies surrounding CBDC implementation entail.