BANGKOK, Thailand–The Bank of Thailand has announced plans to conduct a real-world test of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in a real-world environment sometime in the second quarter of 2022.
The BOT said it has been studying the CBDC since 2018 and said it believes the future of Thailand’s digital currency would greatly benefit from its adoption, according to the deputy governor of the bank. As such, the bank said it plans on doing a limited real-world test of the CBDC in order to observe how it is used in real-life transactions and payments for services and goods.
“The plan is to involve businesses and developers in the testing, though the exact details for how the test will be conducted including the criteria for business and consumer participants as well as the participation model has yet to be determined but will be nailed down before the potential trial run in the second quarter of next year,” according to the National News Bureau of Thailand.
The objective of CBDCs is to bring greater stability to cryptocurrencies, which have surged in value but which are also subject to broad swings.