The Reserve Bank of South Africa and the Central Bank of Indonesia have begun exploring the possibility of launching their own digital currencies for retail payments.
The Central Bank of South Africa announced that it has begun to study the technical potential of state-owned cryptocurrencies and their economic viability in general. The regulator will focus on how the possible launch of the digital South African rand will affect the country’s economy and its development strategy as a whole.
The initiative will include hands-on experiments involving multiple technology platforms. The Central Bank will conduct research on the state stablecoin until 2022, along with the Khokha pilot project, launched in June 2018. Khokha is an interbank payment system using the private Quorum blockchain. At the same time, the Central Bank noted that current research does not mean readiness to launch its own digital currency in the future.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s central bank governor, Perry Warjiyo, has pledged to launch the digital rupee to speed up payments. The Central Bank of Indonesia is assessing which technology is best suited to create a digital currency that will become a legalized payment instrument alongside regular money.
During the pandemic in Indonesia, the number of online transactions increased. Therefore, after the appearance of the digital rupee, the population of Indonesia should not have any difficulties with the transition to the state cryptocurrency. However, the Central Bank does not yet have an exact timetable for its launch.
Note that in terms of the development of state cryptocurrencies, China is ahead of many countries. The People’s Bank of China has already tested the digital yuan several times in different cities and is now approaching its official launch.
