This morning, Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda spoke on the evolution of payment systems and argued that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) should coexist with other forms of money and digital currencies, such as stablecoins. He also commented on the BOJ’s recent announcement about launching a pilot program for the digital yen in April.
In his speech, Mr. Kuroda explained that the BOJ does not see CBDCs as excluding or replacing other forms of money. “Ensuring the coexistence of CBDC with various other forms of money […] is something that we need to and will in fact achieve in the future,” said the Governor. He also wants to collaborate with the private sector to develop “a payment instrument in digital form that is safe and usable anywhere, anytime.”
As for the upcoming pilot program, the goals will be to test the technical feasibility of integration with different stakeholders and improve the design of the digital yen. To date, trials have been largely internal, following two years of proofs of concept (PoC). While no decision to issue a digital yen has been made yet, the BOJ wants the multi-phase pilot program to become a first step toward finding designs that address users’ needs.
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