New CBDC Project Announcements

The number of central banks announcing work on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) continues to rise. This month there have been reports about CBDC activity by the central banks of the ECCB, Jamaica, Korea and Russia.

Bank of Thailand Proof-of-Concept Results

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has reported on its proof-of-concept project with the Siam Cement Group (SCG) and Siam Commercial Bank subsidiary Digital Ventures to use its CBDC and distributed ledger technology (DLT) to pay B2B invoices. Working with ConsenSys, the CBDC integrated SCG with its suppliers to manage procurement, invoicing and payments.

Although the use of DLT enabled conditions to be set on the CBDC, which aided payment efficiency, the BoT also found that as configured for this project, the DLT ‘has some limitations, particularly in supporting large transaction volumes and preserving transaction privacy. Resolving these issues through technology development or system design will need to be explored further’.