Central bank digital currencies could provide more privacy to users than alternatives from big tech, analysts behind a recent report from the New York Fed and economists at UC Santa Barbara.

The recent paper titled "Monetizing Privacy" argues that digital currencies from big tech companies could prove problematic since the business interests of companies compete with users' desire for privacy.

Report authors Rod Garratt, Professor of Economics at UCSB, and Michael Lee, an economist at the NY Fed, added that selling data collected during payment transactions will prove profitable for these companies and that they will likely take hold of the opportunity to generate revenue.

As certain companies continue to capitalize on selling transaction data, the risk of data monopolies emerges. Authors pointed to Facebook's Libra currency as a particularly concerning case. 

By Emily Mason