The BoT (Bank of Thailand) has halted its CBDC (central bank digital currency) strategy as it sees several appropriate means to substitute online payments. Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, the governor of the central bank, stated that many adequate payment options are operating in Thailand thus there is no requirement to introduce a CBDC at the moment.
As per a report, the central-bank executive mentioned that the platform will keep on moving with its retail CBDC trial for the common masses in this year’s 4th quarter.
Nonetheless, it will be done on a narrow scale and the financial organizations will test the fund transfers, withdrawals, as well as deposits. The central bank of the country, as is the case with the majority of other banks in the area, is strictly against the crypto as well as the decentralized economy, and has taken a pledge to clamp down on those engaged with these things.
Suthiwartnarueput disclosed that he was pleased with the present online options for payments like several payment methods dealing with QR codes as well as Promptpay. He revealed that there may be some unintended consequences of utilizing blockchain technology and some risks can also be generated by smart contracts. The military-supported government of Thailand is making extensive efforts to advocate for mobile technology through a campaign called Thailand 4.0.
Nonetheless, several of the unique systems (that are based on QR codes) have turned out to be unsuccessful or incompatible to be utilized on the behalf of the population. The central bank started proof-of-concept projects in 2018 to carry out trials of payments conduits across the borders with the Bank of China and Hong Kong Monetary Authority. 4 years later, the respective systems are mostly experimental and have not stepped forward than their testing stage.