The country’s CBDC’s pilot version has been announced by the Governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines.
With the majority of countries around the world have at least started the development of CBDCs, the Philippines has joined several other regions that are still in the research stage of central bank digital currencies.
Based on the official report by Bangko Sentral NG Pilipinas (BSP), otherwise known as the Central Bank of Philippines, the Governor of the bank Benjamin E. Diokno spoke on the implementation of CBDCs at the "Joint BSP-AFI Knowledge Exchange Program" event.
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Diokno announced that the research on CBDCs by the central bank has been in motion since 2021. It showed the potential “use cases of wholesale CBDC aimed at enhancing the payment system’s safety, resiliency, and efficiency.”
With the research coming to an end, according to the governor, the BSP will soon be launching the pilot version of the country’s digital currency. The test project will be named CBDCPh and will be used to determine the capabilities it has in real-world practice per se.
More than that, Diokno mentioned several positives for CBDCs being included in the financial sector including "accessibility, efficiency gains, cost reductions", alongside remote access to financial assistance programs, and cheaper cross-border transactions.
With that being said, the governor stresses the importance of acknowledging the potential risks of issuing central bank digital currencies that may carry legal issues. He addresses the implementation of set regulatory frameworks and legislation to prevent instances of illegal activity in the financial sectors.
At the moment of writing this article, there are only 9 countries that have fully launched their CBDCs: The Bahamas, 7 islands in the Eastern Caribbean, and Nigeria. Even though China’s digital yuan project is still in its pilot version, the country is considered to have one of the most advanced CBDC technologies in the world.
