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Thai central bank kicks off CBDC testing phase

The Bank of Thailand plans to start testing a CBDC this year.

By Finst News
• 3 min read
Thai central bank kicks off CBDC testing phase

The Bank of Thailand wants to start testing a CBDC this year. The central bank announced this in a press release. The central bank's digital money will be used by 10,000 retailers and three other companies.

The pilot is split into two tracks: the launch phase and the innovation track. As part of the Foundation Track, the efficiency and security of the new payment system will be studied.

The innovation track focuses on programmability, which will "facilitate the development of innovative use cases for CBDC." This will eventually lead to new financial services for a wide range of customers.

To encourage research into the digital currency, the central bank announced the so-called "CBDC Hackathon" to propose ideas on how the central bank's digital currency (CBDC) can be used to spur innovation in finance and business.

Registration runs until September 12. Prizes of up to 100,000 baht, the equivalent of a little under 3,000 euros, are available. By the way, this is Thailand's own ‘answer’ to cryptocurrency. After in 2021 payments with it were initially used as an incentive for tourists, the Bank of Thailand blocked Bitcoin payments in March 2022.

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