The Bank of Thailand has said that it is starting a pilot study of a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC).
According to Coindesk, the central bank said that it ‘deems it necessary to extend the scope of retail CBDC development to a pilot phase’. However, it also underlined its stance that it doesn’t have plans to issue a retail digital currency.
Vachira Arromdee, a deputy governor at the bank, noted that central banks around the world were seeing ‘the potential of retail CBDC as being the foundation of the future financial system’.
The pilot phase will test real-life application of a retail CBDC and will be conducted with the support of the private sector. This, the bank claims, will help it form related policies and improve the CBDC design.
The first of two tracks of the study will examine the system’s efficiency and safety by conducting ‘cash-like activities’ such as paying for goods and services within limited areas and scale of approximately 10,000 retail users selected by the bank.
The first track is anticipated to begin at the end of this year and last until mid-next year.
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