Malaysia evaluates central bank digital currency options

The Central Bank of Malaysia announced that it has recently completed a proof of concept for a central bank digital currency with three other countries and may consider developing its own cross-border payment system using Blockchain.

Malaysia has joined the growing cadre of countries exploring the value of researching and developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to Coin Telegraph.

The central bank of Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia, told Bloomberg on Monday that while no decision has been made on how to proceed with the issuance of the central bank's digital currency, only It focused research on the matter through proof-of-concept and experiment to enhance our technical and policy capabilities.

He also stated that the ostensible reason for current research efforts is to ensure that they are ready to launch a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) program should the need to issue a Central Bank Digital Currency arises in the region. The future.

In 2021, Malaysia teamed up with South Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia neighboring Singapore to develop a proof of concept for an experimental central bank digital currency called Project Dunbar, according to a joint announcement.

The Dunbar project has used the Corda and Quorum blockchain platforms from R3 and ConsenSys respectively to demonstrate the different capabilities of blockchain-based cross-border remittances. In particular, it was intended to demonstrate how blockchain technology can eliminate the need for intermediaries and reduce the time and cost of transactions.

An increasing number of countries are looking at how a central bank digital currency works in their jurisdiction. China is by far the largest country currently implementing a central bank digital currency pilot program called the Digital Yuan, and the mobile app has already been downloaded more than 20 million times since January 4.

China also plans to launch the program and allow international visitors to access the digital yuan with their passports during the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing next month.