According to the report by the Central News Agency, the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) issued a written report on Sunday to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Yuan regarding the planning of digital currency issuance and the digital transformation of currency. The report stated that the issuance of central bank digital currency (CBDC) involves a wide range of stakeholders, and it is necessary to conduct extensive and cautious communication in advance. It is expected that several public hearings, briefings, and forums will be held in 2025, while the legal framework will also be discussed.
In the written report, the central bank revealed its plans for digital currency. The report stated that the central bank has built a prototype platform for CBDC and plans to adopt a dual-layer architecture for issuance. Initially, there will be no interest, but an interest-bearing function will be reserved. The wallets will be divided into anonymous and registered wallets. In addition, considerations will be made for privacy and personal data protection, cybersecurity management, and various retail payment functions.
The central bank has been studying CBDC since 2019 and has completed two phases of research and testing. It is currently in the prototype construction phase, synchronizing with advanced countries around the world. The institution emphasized that promoting CBDC is not an international competition. With Taiwan’s diverse and convenient payment methods, the attitude towards issuing CBDC is more cautious. The main expectation is for the implementation of CBDC to meet the public’s digital payment needs and the government’s digital policy development goals, in order to achieve substantial benefits.
According to reports, the central bank stated that tokenization technology will be applied to the digital transformation of wholesale central bank currency and commercial bank currency to support the development of various asset tokens. The central bank is currently planning the concept verification of wholesale CBDC, using it as a settlement asset for asset tokenization, and combining it with bank deposit token functions to jointly construct the future digital currency system. However, the central bank has expressed its position on digital assets, stating that virtual assets such as Bitcoin and stablecoins are not part of the digital currency system.
Central Bank Governor Yang Chin-long went to the Legislative Yuan today to give a special report, but the agenda did not proceed smoothly. Since the Finance Committee meeting is held on both Monday and Wednesday, with Monday being a holiday, it does not affect the Wednesday agenda, and it is expected to continue the meeting on Wednesday morning.
Source:
Central News Agency