## 1 Introduction  
The world is investing and adapting digital technology to build new business practices, cultures, and customer experiences in response to changing economic and consumer needs [1, 2]. Technological advancements have greatly benefited the global economy and the financial stability of countries. Technology adoption in a country is affected by various factors, including economic development and growth [3]. Owing to the emergence of cryptocurrencies, the banking sector has become increasingly interested in integrating blockchain technology into its operational procedures to improve the customer experience [4, 5]. Cross-border payments face challenges, including slow settlement, high fees, and limited accessibility [6].  
Central bank-issued digital currencies (CBDCs) have sparked significant interest and are currently the subject of extensive research because of their potential for rapid settlement, low fees, accessibility, and automated monetary policies [7, 8]. In the first quarter of 2021, the global average remittance cost was 6.38 percent of the amount sent [9]. These high costs significantly impact households that remit money overseas, and small businesses that make international payments to suppliers. Current studies on central bank digital currencies mainly focus on understanding the relationship between CBDC news and the financial market [10; 11; 12], its impact on other fiat currencies [13], users' perceptions [14], cybersecurity risks in CBDCs [15], and public acceptance of CBDC adoption [16; 17], among others. Although attempts have been made to understand which countries may participate in CBDC interbank development, e.g., [PERSON] et al. [18] investigated countries that can potentially collaborate in the new monetary framework developed by China, and the hypothetical influence of CBDCs on financial stability and inflation rates in three leading economies [19], the studies were limited to selected countries.  
This study explores the technological, environmental, legal, and economic factors that influence central bank digital currency adoption by country, providing new perspectives on technology adoption in various advanced and emerging country contexts. Although technology adoption is commonly examined at the individual level, this study offers an alternative concept by assessing macro-level factors that promote CBDC adoption. Specifically, we studied the effect of a country's network readiness (NRI), sustainable development goal (SDG) rank, democracy level (DEM), corruption perception (CPI), corruption control (CC), economic freedom (EF), income inequality (GIC), foreign currency reserves (RiS), and the human development index (HDI) on CBDC adoption status. Such a study can help countries to develop suitable policies and initiatives to promote central bank digital currency adoption.  
This study fills a significant research gap and makes a theoretical contribution by investigating countries' CBDC adoption, and how legislators, investors, and business individuals may consider informed investment practices. The findings of this study will benefit authorities, businesses, and investors by properly understanding the factors that influence CBDC adoption by country. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides a literature review and a theoretical background. Section 3 presents the materials and the methods used in this study. Sections 4 and 5 present the results, discussion, and recommendations for future research.