Thailand's central bank tests digital baht before public launch

The Bank of Thailand has reportedly entered a new phase in the development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has deployed a CBDC and has been using the digital currency to conduct financial transactions with some large businesses, local English-language newspaper The Nation reported July 16.
Thailand to test CBDC with Hong Kong Monetary Authority in September
BOT Assistant Governor Vachira Arromdee reportedly announced on Wednesday that the bank has entered the third phase of digital baht development and plans to expand to more businesses.
The BOT reportedly plans to test the digital currency for transactions with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in September 2020.
Vachira said the Thai central bank is also considering expanding the use of the digital baht to the general public to reduce the cost of financial transactions. However, the BOT first needs to conduct a comprehensive study to prevent potential negative impacts on commercial banks.
Thailand’s central bank hopes to learn from China’s experience with reliable CBDC
Vachira reportedly cited China’s CBDC experience, claiming that the public launch of the digital yuan has not affected the country’s financial system so far.
As reported, the BOT officially launched a pilot project to test its CBDC payment system in June 2020. Following the announcement, the BOT stated that it needed to test the digital currency with large businesses before rolling out the system to all businesses.
Cointelegraph reached out to the BOT to learn more about the current status of CBDC development. This article will be updated as new information becomes available.
China has been actively advancing its CBDC project so far. On July 15, it was reported that the People's Bank of China was planning to conduct a potential test of the digital yuan on Meituan, which has 435 million users. Earlier in July, Meituan and video-sharing site Bilibili reportedly joined China's digital yuan project. (Cointelegraph Chinese)