Familiarity with the digital yen concept is very low in Japan. Only 3.1% of consumers surveyed said they knew about a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Another 20% saying they’d heard of it but didn’t know much. That compares to a U.S. CBDC survey that showed recognition by around half of the U.S. population. That was before the recent U.S. campaign mentions of the topic. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda revealed the Japanese figures during a speech today.
He also had a slightly different spin when comparing a CBDC to cash. Firstly, he noted that a CBDC is intangible compared to tangible cash, and hence it ‘transcends space’. Because there’s no need for physical presence for payments, a CBDC is usable for a broader range of payments than cash.
The second point is that physical cash takes up space, whereas the digital version does not. The Governor characterized this space issue as a disadvantage and inconvenience of cash. However, the small digital storage for a CBDC is more similar to commercial bank money than cash. Hence, he noted the risk there could be flows from banks to CBDC and highlighted that many countries plan to impose CBDC holding limits.
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