The central bank of Japan has begun trials of a new digital currency in an effort to experiment with how it could be used, Bank of Japan announced Monday. The announcement comes after the Chinese government revealed it was doing something very similar with a digital yuan early March.
“The Bank of Japan has been making preparations to begin experiments on the Central Bank’s (CBDC) digital currency in early fiscal year 2021, to test the technical feasibility of the basic functions and features needed for the CBDC,” he said. the Bank of Japan in a statement issued on line. “As the necessary preparations are completed, phase 1 of the proof of concept (PoC) begins today.”
The announcement confirms rumors that have been swirling since late 2020 about the possible Japanese creation of a digital yen. But there is no guarantee that Japan will ever make digital currency available to the public. Everything is very experimental right now, according to the Bank of Japan.
“In Phase 1 of PoC, the Bank plans to develop a test environment for the CBDC system and conduct experiments on the basic core functions of CBDC as a payment instrument, such as issuance, distribution and amortization,” he said. continue the statement of the Bank of Japan. “This phase will run until March 2022, for one year.”
Like the Sign up he points out, virtually every major central bank in the world is experiment or rumor that you are experimenting with digital currencies to make sure they are ready whenever it comes time to issue one. And as cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether become more common through services like PayPal, this time could be sooner rather than later.
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In the US, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said she supports funding for research on a digital dollar, though she has pointed out the kind of conservative thinking you might expect from a senior government official. At least the kind of thinking normally (read: post-Trump) government.
“There are a lot of things to consider here, but it’s worth looking at,” Yellen said February.