There Won’t Be A Central Bank Cryptocurrency In Next 3-5 Years: Bank Of Thailand Governor

As the latest crypto news show, the citizens of Thailand will have to be more than just patient while waiting for a retail central bank-issued cryptocurrency that is meant to save them from carrying cash around.

At least this is what the governor of the Bank of Thailand (BoT) named Veerathai Santiprabhob believes in. As he stated, the plans to switch from cash to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin won’t happen within the next 3 to 5 years – mostly because the process of creating a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is ‘not easy’ and is time-consuming due to the complex nature of this monetary system.

The governor also noted that even though there has been some progress regarding the issuance of CBDCs in some countries, Thailand is far from the idea at least within the next half of a decade.

And while the Bank of Thailand has not announced any plans for a CBDC meant for use by the general public, three months ago it announced that it is working on a wholesale CBDC (a digital currency meant for use by financial institutions for settling inter-bank payments, doing cross-border transfers etc.)

The project is dubbed ‘Project Inthanon’ and has an interesting abstract:

“Building upon the findings and outcomes from Phase 1, the project participants aim to further develop the capabilities of the prototype for broader functions including third party funds transfer and cross-border funds transfer.”

Even though the governor of BoT did not touch the risks associated with CBDCs, one official from the International Monetary Fund named Christine Lagarde has said that there are three downsides to a state-backed digital currency: the risk to financial integrity and stability as well as its potential to stifle innovation.