BOJ Launched Its Digital Currency Trials

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced the start of digital currency trials today.

BOJ has launched its digital currency trials. The Bank of Japan announced that trials of central bank digital currency (CBDC) have begun. In the first statement made by the bank, following expressions were used; "In the first stage, the bank plans to develop a test environment for the CBDC system and to test the functions that form the basis of the CBDC as a payment instrument such as issuance, distribution and redemption." It was stated that the first phase will continue until March 2022 and then the bank will make a detailed assessment of the various functions of the CBDC. In particular, the coronavirus epidemic has accelerated digital money studies worldwide. While societies are interested in payment methods without physical contact, many countries in the world, especially China, have made a great progress on digital money. Turkey is also working on a digital currency, and the first tests are scheduled for the second half of 2021. According to a study conducted this year by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), 86 percent of central banks were actively researching the potential of CBDCs, 60 percent tried technology and 14 percent implemented pilot projects.