Taiwan’s Central Bank Is Working On A Government-run Digital Currency

Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Yang Chin-long

According to the governor of the central bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Yang Chin-long, the country’s apex bank is working on its central bank digital currency (CBDC). While speaking at a forum on digital currencies on Wednesday, the apex bank’s boss mentioned that it was unclear when the scheme would be unleashed to the public, the central bank of the Republic of China has been stimulating the use of the CBDC in a pilot program.

The country has been working on a pilot program for its central bank’s digital currency for about two years now. The aim is to enable the use of a digital wallet to make payments without debit and credit cards and receive money seamlessly without barriers.

Central bank digital currencies are becoming increasingly popular and governments hope to use them to widen financial inclusion, encourage seamless remittances, reduce fraud and give people an alternative to cryptocurrencies.

The apex bank’s governor, however, highlighted some challenges that could hinder the progress of an indigenous CBDC. They are; communicating with the public and winning their support, ensuring the system’s stability, and building the legal framework for the currency’s operations. According to him, “This will take a long time, at least two years, and then we’ll have to evaluate it again.”

He emphasized how huge the CBDC project is and speculated that it might take more than two years to bring the project to a conclusion adding that Taiwanese people are used to making payments and purchases in cash.

“We still have to push forward. After all, most of the young people in the future will use mobile phones, so we have to think about the next generation,” he added.

Governments around the world are working assiduously to introduce a central bank digital currency into their economic system. A few of them such as China and Nigeria have already launched their CBDCs. According to the Atlantic Council, 10 countries around the world have launched their CBDCs, 50 others are in advanced stages and a total of 105 countries are exploring CBDC s.