The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has announced plans following a recent study to begin testing a Retail Central Bank Digital Currency (Retail CBDC) in the second quarter of 2022.
The bank had conducted a study on the implications of a retail CBDC on the country’s financial sector as well as published results of a survey on the development of a CBDC based on the paper ‘The Way Forward for Retail Central Bank Digital Currency in Thailand’, published on 2 April 2021.
The results of the study and feedback collected from the survey have been taken into consideration towards determining guidelines for the development and testing of Retail CBDC, according to Fintech News. BOT said that it will be conducting the pilot under two tracks.
Trials will begin with testing and evaluating the usage of CBDC in conducting cash like activities within a limited scale, such as accepting, converting, or paying for goods and services. The central bank will then move on to test and evaluate the ways in which CBDC can be further developed for innovative use cases, by allowing for participation from the private sector and technology developers.
The regulator said that it is currently in the process of considering the format and criteria for participation.
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