TOKYO (JAPAN) – Next year, the Bank of Japan would begin experimenting on how to operate its own digital currency by emulating other central banks, it said on Friday.
This comes in the backdrop of seven major central banks announcing their intention to have a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
It is also part of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s stress on promoting digitalisation and administrative reform to make the country more competitive.
The bank will conduct a first round of experiments based on basic functions core to CBDCs, such as issuance and distribution in April 2021.
The experiments are part of the bank’s endeavours to examine closely how it can come out with general-purpose CBDCs, which are expected to be widely used by the general public, including companies and households.