The Bahamas and Cambodia outrank China in countries with the most advanced Central Bank Digital Currency Development, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accounting firm.
In a news report that was released by the PwC cited by Blockchain.news, it showed that the Bahamas, with its Sand Dollar, is the most advanced retail CBDC owing to the fact that as of last year, residents of the country can now access the digital wallet for the currency through a physical payment card or a mobile application.
Cambodia ranks second because its Central Bank Digital Currency project is already live while China ranks only third because its project is still in the testing phase. There is no timeframe revealed for the launch of the project and not all citizens have access to its currency.
Some data on CBDC development
The same PwC report also disclosed some very important data related to CBDC.
The report said that 60% of central banks are conducting extensive researches on digital currencies. Retail projects are more active in emerging economies because of the importance of financial inclusion. Interbank or wholesale application is seen as dominant in advanced economies.
There are only 23% of the retail projects are in the implementation stage while 70% of wholesale projects are currently doing their pilot programs.
China and Thailand topped the ranking for interbank or wholesale projects, followed by Singapore, Canada, and United Kingdom.
A response to crypto revolution
The efforts of many central banks in different parts of the world towards launching digital currencies picked up momentum when the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) became more popular and the Facebook-backed project Diem was announced.
China’s progress with its digital currency program seems to be the cause of worry for other nations, including the United States.
Just last year, the Bank of Japan announced that one of its major reasons for expedited research into its national digital currency was the perceived threat of the Digital Yuan.
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Source: https://bitcoinerx.com/bitcoin/the-bahamas-leads-the-pack-with-the-most-advanced-cbdc-development/
