Taiwan Developing Own Digital Currency – Report

Taiwan’s central bank has said it is still working on its digital currency, as other countries also develop their own sovereign digital currencies.

Reuters reported Taiwan’s central bank governor Yang Chin-long as saying on Wednesday that it was still unclear when the CBDC (central bank digital currency) could roll out to the public.

It seems that for the past two years, Taiwan’s central bank has been working on a pilot for a government-run digital currency that will to allow citizens to use a digital wallet and make payments without using a debit or credit card.

Taiwanese CBDC

Yang made the comments whilst speaking at a forum on digital currencies, and he reportedly said Taiwan has been simulating the use of the central bank digital currency, or CBDC, in a closed loop environment.

The central bank faces three major tasks next, he added: communicating with the public and winning their support, ensuring the system’s stability, and building the legal framework for the currency’s operations.

“This will take a long time, at least two years, and then we’ll have to evaluate it again,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

As this is a huge project, it’s uncertain that even in two years’ time the CBDC platform can be completed, Yang reportedly said.

Taiwanese people are also accustomed to using cash, he added.

“We still have to push forward,” he reportedly said. “After all, most of the young people in the future will use mobile phones, so we have to think about the next generation.”

Other countries

Taiwan is not alone in developing its own digital currency or CBDC.

In February this year, India’s central bank said it will launch a digital rupee sometime in 2022 or 2023.

Other countries are also developing regulations and rules for cryptocurrencies.

Indeed, according to the Atlantic Council, ten countries have already launched central bank digital currencies and another 105 countries are exploring the option.

Earlier this month US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the development of an official digital version of the dollar could help safeguard its global dominance as other countries issue their own.

In October 2021 G7 finance ministers and central bank governors agreed cryptocurrency principles and corporate tax reforms.

The G7 finance officials also endorsed 13 public policy principles for central bank digital currencies, and stressed they should be grounded in transparency, the rule of law and sound economic governance.

China meanwhile has been testing a digital version of its yuan (digital yuan or e-CNY) since 2014 and is furthest ahead when it comes to launching CBDCs (central bank digital currency) globally.

In January 2022 China’s central bank (People’s Bank of China) launched a pilot version of a wallet app, in an effort to expanded usage of the digital version of China’s sovereign currency.

In April 2021, the United Kingdom revealed it was exploring the potential of creating a digital currency backed by the Bank of England.

Chancellor, Rishi Sunak had asked the Bank of England and HM Treasury to look at the case for a new “Britcoin”, which has seen the joint creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Taskforce to “co-ordinate the exploration of a potential UK CBDC.”

Japan is also looking into its own CBDC.