Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is considering the issuance of a wholesale CBDC (wCBDC) to support the settlement of tokenized government bonds. The country’s Bureau of the Treasury first issued tokenized treasury bonds to institutions in 2023, followed by a retail issuance in 2024. Separately, in 2024 the central bank ran wCBDC trials, Project Agila, to explore the usage of the CBDC for interbank settlement outside of working hours.
“What we are thinking of doing next is to focus on wholesale CBDC settling government bonds, because the Bureau of the Treasury moved ahead with their pilot of the tokenized treasury bonds. It just lacked a settlement instrument, so we will be providing that with CBDC,” said BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan, according to local media outlet GMA News.
Building on the initial Project Agila trials which involved six banks, that is expected to expand for the second trial, with no target date specified. BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. previously said he intended to launch a wCBDC significantly before his term expires in 2029, but the central bank has no plans for a retail CBDC.
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