BOJ wants digital currencies to work with private businesses

Any digital currency issued by the Bank of Japan should have a simple design that public firms can use to develop financial and payment services for customers, a senior bank official said on Friday.

If private businesses had to decide on issuing digital currencies, they would need to co-exist with central banking payment services, BOJ executive director Shinichi Uchida said.

To achieve horizontal coexistence, a relatively simple digital currency, CBDC is desirable for the private sector to use it as an ingredient to develop varied services, he told a speech.

For example, private entities could develop services that allow customers to use both CBDC and Uchida’s single payment means with a private wallet, Uchida added.

Global central banks have stepped up efforts to develop their own digital currencies to modernise financial systems and speed up domestic and international payments.

The BOJ has announced that it has no idea how to issue CBDC. But CBDC started the first phase of experiments in 2016 on CBDC and has set up a regular panel to exchange views with the private sector as part of efforts to ensure any digital currency it issues does not stifle private innovation.