The Bank of Thailand announced that there is a CBDC (central bank digital currency) trial planned for Q2 2022. This time, it will test the digital currency for “cash-like activities within a limited scale” like payment for goods and services.
There is a possibility that the CBDC could serve as a partial substitute for cash and e-money, as the demand increases over time.
The Bank of Thailand will be seeking involvement from the private sector and technology developers, as long as they meet the criteria set by the central bank
Intermediaries such as financial institutions will be issuing the non-interest bearing CBDC to the general public. They will also be establishing the conditions or the limit amount of CBDC that can be held.
The central bank published the results of a new study on managing the implications of issuing a retail CBDC for Thailand’s financial sector. The report disclosed three key conclusions that the bank has reached in order to ensure that the issuance of retail CBDC would not upset the financial stability.
