The Bank of Japan is starting test runs of a digital yen after looking into it for two years.
The central bank’s CBDC pilot tests will happen in April. This is after the end of two proof-of-concept projects that tested the basic parts of issuing, paying out, and transferring digital yen, as well as more complex tests of the system’s feasibility and technical performance in a number of different situations.
Announcing the pilot trial, BoJ executive Uchida Shinichi, states:
“The aim of the pilot programme is twofold: first, to test the technical feasibility not fully covered by the PoCs, and second, to utilise the skills and insights of private businesses in terms of technology and operation for designing a CBDC ecosystem in the possible event of social implementation.
Under the pilot programme, we plan to develop a system for experiments, where a central system, intermediary network systems, intermediary systems and endpoint devices would be configured in an integrated manner.”
The trials will include simulated transactions with retailers and consumers, as well as the creation of a CBDC forum with private payment institutions.
Japanese credit card company JCB is working with identity specialist Idemia and financial technology company Soft Space to figure out how digital yen would work in stores.
