Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) recently revealed at a digital payments event that it will focus only on wholesale CBDC as it believes that the existing system already serves retail payments well.
Two years ago, BNM outlined its central bank digital currency (CBDC) plan, when it intended to explore wholesale CBDC (wCBDC) in the short term and explore universal retail CBDC this year.
Currently, BNM is building expertise, conducting preparations and mastering the technology. BNM reportedly said: "If we are to issue wholesale CBDC in the future, we will know what needs to be done and what policy implications we need to keep in mind."
The bank envisions using wholesale CBDC for interbank settlement of tokenized deposits to support domestic and cross-border payments, but there are currently no plans to issue CBDC, although preparations are in place. BNM will continue to work on wCBDC and DLT in 2024-25. Currently, several Asian economies are exploring wholesale CBDC to support tokenized deposits, including Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.