This report describes the potential role of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in strategic competition. Understanding the national security implications of both international CBDC developments and a potential U.S. CBDC is a central component of President Biden's March 2022 Executive Order 14067 on "Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets." This executive order mandated an assessment of foreign CBDCs and their potential effect on U.S. finance, as well as effects on national security and financial crime — concerns that are overshadowed by the relatively advanced stage of China's CBDC. This report contributes to the discourse that has emerged from that executive order by describing whether and how the more advanced stage of China's CBDC project might advantage China, how decisions regarding the international governance of CBDCs might affect U.S. national power, and how the design choices of a U.S. CBDC might affect its capabilities as an instrument of national power.