The National Bank of Cambodia recently published its annual report, disclosing continued growth in the Bakong blockchain-based payment systems. Payment volumes of $148.9 billion during 2024 represent 330% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
While sometimes described as a central bank digital currency (CBDC), because it was set up by the central bank, Bakong is closer to a tokenized deposit initiative. Bakong currency balances are backed by accounts at commercial banks.
A payment provider could have a couple of Bakong-linked bank accounts that support many thousands of wallets. Hence, the number of accounts, 642,500, is far smaller than the number of wallets and has grown more slowly (by 7%).
There are now around 30 million Bakong wallets, a figure that is 1.69 times the population. In terms of acceptance, 4.5 millions merchants can receive payments because there’s a standard QR code method supported for multiple payment types.
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