Malaysia joins the ranks of countries already exploring the value of researching and developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
On Jan. 17, Bank Negara Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia) told Bloomberg that while it has yet to decide exactly how to advance a CBDC, it has focused its research on CBDCs "to improve our technical and policy capabilities through proof-of-concept and experiments." ."
It also stated that the ostensible reason for the current research work is to ensure that it is ready to launch a CBDC project “should there be a need to issue a CBDC in the future.”
In 2021, Malaysia has partnered with South Africa, Australia and neighboring Singapore in Southeast Asia to develop a proof-of-concept CBDC pilot called Project Dunbar, according to a joint statement.
Project Dunbar demonstrates various capabilities of blockchain-based cross-border remittances utilizing r3 and ConsenSys' Corda and Quorum blockchain platforms, respectively. Most notably, it aims to demonstrate how blockchain technology can "remove the need for middlemen and reduce the time and cost of transactions."
A growing number of countries are examining how CBDC projects could work within their jurisdictions. China is currently the largest country implementing a CBDC pilot project, and the mobile app Digital Yuan has had more than 20 million downloads since Jan. 4. China plans to roll out the project during the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics next month, allowing international tourists to use their passports to access the digital yuan.
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) launched the final version of its CBDC "EC dollar" in March 2021. As of December 2021, Antigua is the last of the eight ECCB jurisdictions not to have adopted the EC dollar. Neighboring Jamaica also plans to launch a finalized CBDC in the first quarter of 2022 after successfully completing a pilot project two weeks ago.
Cointelegraph Chinese is a blockchain news information platform, and the information provided only represents the author's personal opinion, has nothing to do with the position of the Cointelegraph Chinese platform, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Readers are requested to establish correct currency concepts and investment concepts, and earnestly raise risk awareness.