Central Bank Promotion of Central Bank Digital Currency is not an International Competition Public Hearing to be Held Next Year

Central Bank Promotion of Central Bank Digital Currency is not an International Competition Public Hearing to be Held Next Year

Central Bank Promotion of Central Bank Digital Currency is not an International Competition Public Hearing to be Held Next Year

According to Central News Agency, the Central Bank of Taiwan issued a written report on Sunday to the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee on the planning of digital currency issuance and the digital transformation of currency. The report pointed out that the issuance of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) involves a wide range of stakeholders and it is necessary to conduct extensive and cautious communication in advance. It is expected that several public hearings, briefings, and forums will be held in 2025, while the legal framework will also be discussed.

The central bank revealed its plan for digital currency in the written report. The report stated that the central bank has established a CBDC prototype platform and plans to adopt a dual-layered architecture for issuance. In the initial stage, the issuance will be interest-free, but the interest-bearing function will be reserved. The wallet will be divided into anonymous and registered wallets. In addition, privacy and personal data protection, cybersecurity management, and various retail payment functions will be considered.

The central bank began researching CBDC in 2019 and completed two stages of research experiments. It is currently in the prototype construction phase, in sync with advanced countries around the world. The institution emphasized that promoting CBDC is not an international competition. Taiwan has a diverse and convenient payment system, so the attitude towards CBDC issuance is cautious. The main expectation is for CBDC implementation to meet the public’s digital payment needs and the government’s digital policy development goals in order to achieve substantial benefits.

According to reports, the central bank stated that tokenization technology will be applied to the digital transformation of wholesale central bank money and commercial bank money to support the development of various asset tokens. The central bank is currently planning the concept verification of wholesale CBDC, using it as a settlement asset for asset tokenization, and combining it with bank deposit token functionality to jointly build the future digital currency system. However, the central bank has expressed its position on digital assets, stating that virtual assets such as Bitcoin and stablecoins are not part of the digital currency system.

Central Bank Governor Yang Chin-long went to the Legislative Yuan today to give a special report, but the agenda did not proceed smoothly. As the Finance Committee meeting is held on Mondays and Wednesdays, with Monday being a holiday, it will not affect the Wednesday agenda, and the meeting is expected to continue on Wednesday morning.

Source: Central News Agency