Bank of Thailand Progresses With Digital Baht Tests Before Public Launch

Published at: July 16, 2020

Thailand’s central bank has reportedly entered a new phase in the development of its central bank digital currency, or CBDC.

The Bank of Thailand, or BOT, has reportedly deployed its CBDC, and has been using the digital currency for financial transactions with some large businesses, local English-language newspaper The Nation reports July 16.

Thailand to roll out CBDC testing with the Hong Kong’s central bank in September

The bank has entered the third phase in development of the digital baht and plans to expand to more businesses, BOT assistant governor, Vachira Arromdee, reportedly announced on Wednesday.

According to the report, the BOT is planning to roll out the digital currency for transactions with Hong Kong's central bank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, in September 2020.

Thailand’s central bank is also thinking to expand the use of the digital baht to the general public to reduce the cost of financial transactions, Vachira said. However, the BOT first needs to carry out a comprehensive study to prevent the potential negative impacts on commercial banks, the executive noted.

Bank of Thailand wants to follow solid CBDC expertise in China

Vachira reportedly cited the CBDC experience of China, claiming that the public rollout of the digital yuan has not affected the financial system in the country so far.

As reported, the BOT officially launched a pilot project to test its CBDC payment system in June 2020. Announcing the news, the bank said that before rolling out the system to all businesses, the digital currency needed to be tested out with large-scale enterprises.

Cointelegraph reached out to the BOT to know more information about the current status of the CBDC development. This article will be updated pending any new information.

China has been actively progressing with its CBDC project so far. On July 15, the People’s Bank of China was reported to be planning potential tests of the digital yuan on Meituan Dianping’s food delivery platform with 435 million users. Earlier in July, local e-commerce giant Meituan and video sharing website Bilibilibili reportedly joined China’s digital yuan project.

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