Advancement in technology is rapidly expanding the development and adoption of private digital currencies such as Bitcoin. To stay ahead of the financial technology revolution, central banks around the world are introducing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), which are expected to bring many benefits to countries. However, given that trust in government and public institutions, such as central banks, has been particularly low in recent years, the introduction of CBDCs may not be accepted by the general public. Research on the role of trust in technology acceptance has often focused on trust-building mechanisms in the formal institutional environment, with less attention given to the informal institution’s role in building trust. The study draws on the complementarities between trust in formal and informal institutions as a valuable input in the trust-building mechanism for CBDCs acceptance. Using the conceptual framework of diffusion of innovations and the concept of distributed trust, this dissertation explores how CBDCs could be designed to take advantage of the trust-building mechanism in formal and informal institutions for successful diffusion. A Distributed Trust Matrix for CBDCs is developed to provide central banks with design choices within the context of trust-building mechanism expected in their CBDC projects. The study provides theoretical and practical insights into the design and diffusion of CBDCs. At the same time, it contributes to the academic literature on the influence of trust on the diffusion of innovations.