Cambodia’s Central Bank Launches Blockchain-Based Payments System
- Called Bakong, the new system will allow instant mobile payments, as well as alternative options for transactions such as “deposits, withdrawals, and sending and receiving via e-wallet”.
- The bank also hopes to slow down the spread of the COVID-19 virus by providing its customers with seamless e-payments from person to person.
Photo from Freepik
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has officially launched its own blockchain-based inter-bank mobile payments system, local news outlet The Phanom Penh Post reported on 28 October.
Called Bakong, the new payments platform was created under the NBC’s initiative to modernize the country’s payment system. According to its whitepaper, published in June 2020, the Bakong system will also attempt to challenge the U.S. dollar’s reign in the country’s economy. While the Khmer Riel is the official currency in Cambodia, the U.S. dollar has been favored by locals for decades, the whitepaper points out.
NBC’s director general, Chea Serey, said in a statement:
“I would like to encourage all member institutions to continue to provide services to customers in a professional and responsible manner, and also contribute to the wide-scale promotion of the Bakong System to the public in order to take part in modernising the payment system in Cambodia.”
The bank’s official further said that the new payments system could not only promote social welfare in the country, but also slow down the spread of the COVID-19 virus by providing “seamless e-payments from person to person”. Bakong will not only enable instant mobile payments, but offer its users alternative options for transactions such as “deposits, withdrawals, sending and receiving via e-wallet”.
The new system was built on top of the Hyperledger Iroha permissioned blockchain network, developed by Japanese firm Soramitsu, which also hosted the platform’s pilot tests in 2019. One of the largest financial institutions in Cambodia, PRASAC, also decided to get involved with the Bakong system back in October 2019. At the time, the firm’s senior vice president, Say Sony, said in a statement:
“Bakong is the payment service allowing customers to transfer funds to one another across platforms throughout the country. It is safe, easy, fast and free of charge. Customers can therefore blissfully enjoy availing themselves of this service to transfer, make a payment, deposit, and receive funds effortlessly.”
While some in the crypto community have started referring to the new payments system as Cambodia’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), officials from the country’s central bank have stressed that Bakong is not a CBDC.
- The head of China’s central bank digital currency institute said the e-CNY has undergone a major upgrade, and should be made available as an option in all retail scenarios.
- The PBOC official noted that platforms can integrate the CBDC in the short term using QR codes, and focus on upgrading their payment tools in the long run.
Office building of the People’s Bank of China. Flickr
- The current governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, announced he is joining the race for the 47th president of the U.S. during a Twitter Spaces event on Wednesday.
- During his speech DeSantis declared his support for Bitcoin and the wider crypto space, noting that if Joe Biden is re-elected “they’ll probably end up killing it”.
- Planned for 1 April, the CBDC trial will involve real consumers and real transactions, though they will be limited to a certain number of customers and transfers.
- The pilot, however, will not be opened to the general public in its first phase, and will only be opened to customers chosen by the 13 participating local banks.