Digital Yen pilot to start in “spring of 2023”

25 Nov 2022

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) may start the digital Yen pilot as soon as next spring and will initiate a trial involving “consumers and private sector companies.”

According to a Nikkei report, the central bank has almost completed the “basic functions” tests on the central bank digital currency (CBDC) prototype. This will then be followed by “second-phase pilot testing” that “will begin in the spring of 2023.”

The Bank of Japan has previously affirmed it wants “second-phase pilot tests” to “involve private businesses and consumers.”

The report also stated that the central bank is currently holding discussions with “three mega-banks”, along with a number of regional banks, ahead of the pilot launch, all of which had “a positive attitude” to the initiative.

The central bank is eager to trial factors such as interest accrual and transaction speed within the new stage of the pilot, Crypto News reports.

Yet indications are that the BOJ will want to progress with pilots similar to those being carried out in China. The digital Yuan has been launched in several of the country’s largest financial hubs, and experiments have been carried out on online and offline functionality.

Yet unlike China’s CBDC, the Bank of Japan’s prototype will more likely utilise some of the tech advances used in crypto assets.

On numerous occasions, Japan’s central bank is “yet to decide” whether it will launch a CBDC and said a “national consensus” would be needed before a token is launched.

Governor of the Bank of Japan, Haruhiko Kuroda, said back in January that a digital Yen may not be issued until 2026. Yet this may now not be the case considering the lightning speed of the pilot progression.

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