Ex-BOJ Official Warned Against Usage Of The Digital Yen: Report

An EX-BOJ official warned against the usage of the digital yen and advised against its use so let’s read more in our latest cryptocurrency news.

Hiromi Yamaoka is now heading a private forum of 74 companies that plan to launch a private digital currency. The Ex-BOJ official who headed the digital currency research is against its use now. According to the reports, Hiromi Yamaoka who is the former head of the BOJ financial settlement department advised against the usage of the digital yen as part of the monetary policy in the country. Yamaoka’s biggest concern lies with the negative interest rates and believes that once the yen becomes a tool for mass payments, the public will have to bear the burden of depleting the value of the fiat currency. He also warned that the digital yen could pose a risk to financial stability and can have a disastrous outcome for the economy.

Yamaoka is now working in the private sector and chairs a forum of 74companies that include some of the biggest banks in the country. The forum is working on launching a private digital currency as early as April. In October 2020, the BOJ shared a trial outline for its central bank digital currency with teh first two phases of the trial being focused on testing the proofs of concept while the third phase will see the pilot. The phase started in April 2021, and it is expected to finish by March and the BOJ is expected to start a new phase of the trials that will test the technical aspect around the launch of a digital yen.

Despite being one of the first nations to introduce regulations, cash is still a king in the Japanese retail sector owing to the natural calamities that often cut off the power in the country so the payment sector in the country is focused on executing offline transactions while in June 2020, the central bank published a research report that focused mostly on developing an offline CBDc. The BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said that they are not looking for a launch right away but he also noted that the digital yen can launch by 2026 and the decision will not be made by the central bank.