The Bank of Thailand (BOT), Thailand’s central bank, has entered a new phase in the development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC).
On July 16, it has been reported by a local English-language newspaper The Nation that BOT has been using the digital currency for financial transactions with some large businesses.
However, Vachira Arromdee, the assistant governor of BOT, said that the bank has entered the third phase in the development of the digital baht and plans to expand to more businesses.
According to the report, the BOT is planning to roll out the digital currency for transactions with Hong Kong’s central bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, in September 2020.
Thailand’s central bank @bankofthailand enters a new phase in testing the national digital currency https://t.co/T59xkbTpvw — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) July 16, 2020
Vachira added that the bank is also thinking to expand the use of the digital baht to the general public to reduce the cost of financial transactions, as BOT first needs to carry out a comprehensive study to prevent the potential negative impacts on commercial banks.
Likewise, Vachira cited the CBDC experience of China by claiming that the public rollout of the digital yuan has not affected the financial system in the country so far.
As per the report, the central bank officially launched a pilot project to test its CBDC payment system in June 2020.
Thus, the bank said that before rolling out the system to all businesses, the digital currency needed to be tested out with large-scale enterprises.
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Samui Times