Japan, a country where foreign stablecoins like USDT are banned, plans to start piloting a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in April 2023. It will aim to include private businesses and test the ecosystem.
On February 17, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) released the opening speech of executive director Shinichi Uchida at the CBDC committee meeting. In it, Uchida announced that the Bank decided to launch a pilot program for the “digital yen” in April, after the completion of the Proof of Concept test, which has already started in 2021.
The pilot test will continue the work on the technical feasibility of “if digital” and extend the experiment to modeling the CBDC ecosystem with the participation of private companies. As officially stated, no real retail transactions will be conducted during the pilot, only simulated ones.
Uchida’s speech focused on the design of the future CBDC and the need to consult with the private sector on alternative data models, architecture for offline payments and other important elements of the system. For this kind of consultation, a CBDC forum will be created.
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News of the CBDC pilot has been highly anticipated, as local media reported on the BoJ’s intention to return in November 2022. From the report, it is understood that at least three Japanese megabanks and regional banks will collaborate with the BoJ.
Meanwhile, the Japanese authorities are also considering lifting the ban on foreign stablecoins, which will become law in 2022. According to the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan, the amendment should be implemented in June 2023. When they will not allow foreign stablecoins. to the market automatically, a green light will be displayed for those coins, which have successfully passed the individual checks.