Central Bank of the Philippines: Digital currency will save money on printing paper money
The deputy chairman of the Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) said that the regulator intends to complete Project Agila, a pilot of the state digital currency for wholesale transactions, by the end of the year.
Mamerto Tangonan assured that the chief financial regulator positively evaluates the results of the experiment with the launch of settlements in Philippine digital pesos.
"The experiment involves the largest players in the Philippine credit market, including BDO Unibank, China Banking and Land Bank of the Philippines. In terms of its internal content, CBDC is similar to cryptocurrency, but the turnover and value are fully controlled and regulated by the central bank. In fact, it is a digital version of a fiat currency. Instead of printing physical banknotes, the central bank will be able to commercially issue digital coins," the official explained.
The deputy Chairman of the Central Bank claims that the Agila pilot Project "is aimed at exploring potential areas of practical application of CBDC." For example, to give BSP and the participants of the experiment the opportunity to better assess the positive and negative sides, as well as the differences between the new technology and traditional forms of calculations.
Mamerto Tankonan said that the regulator plans to launch a commercial version of the digital peso upon completion of the pilot project.
Source: https://bits.media/tsb-filippin-tsifrovaya-valyuta-pozvolit-sekonomit-na-pechati-bumazhnykh-deneg/