Cambodia exploring ways to become cashless society
The National Bank of Cambodia is pushing ahead with trials for interbank payments using blockchain technology that facilitates secure financial transactions.
To that end, the central bank partnered with Soramitsu Co., a Japanese blockchain specialist company, which will test distributed ledger technology to create new and innovative payment methods for banks and individual citizens.
According to Soramitsu, the eventual goal was to develop a complete new payment infrastructure for which the first testing phase could take place in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The central bank’s director-general Chea Serey said that the new technology is expected to “provide smooth, efficient, safe and affordable interbank transactions which will ultimately benefit end users” and would create “smart money” by providing secure settlement infrastructure for the National Bank and a more efficient payment infrastructure in a country where most financial transactions are still made in cash due to the lack of a modern financial infrastructure to support commercial and individual banking at scale.
Furthermore, Cambodia’s monetary policy is dictated by its dependence on the US dollar and the country’s central bank is actively looking at solutions to regain control. A blockchain system could be customised to benefit and strengthen the country’s sovereign monetary policy, including the local currency, the underused riel.
In the next step, a blockchain-based banking system could lay the foundations for a cashless society in Cambodia, a concept explored by the central bank for some time now.
“A cashless system is less costly and more transparent for the whole economy. This has always been on our agenda, but we needed time to study the different platforms available,” Serey said.
The idea is already falling on fertile ground with Cambodia’s first cashless mobile payment systems jumping up the bandwagon, among them eMoney, Wing, AMK, Asia Wei Luy and recently launched Pi Pay, SmartLuy, Tesjor and PayGo. China’s Alipay and Thailand’s TrueMoney are also available in Cambodia.
The National Bank of Cambodia is pushing ahead with trials for interbank payments using blockchain technology that facilitates secure financial transactions. To that end, the central bank partnered with Soramitsu Co., a Japanese blockchain specialist company, which will test distributed ledger technology to create new and innovative payment methods for banks and individual citizens. According to Soramitsu, the eventual goal was to develop a complete new payment infrastructure for which the first testing phase could take place in the fourth quarter of 2017. The central bank's director-general Chea Serey said that the new technology is expected to "provide smooth, efficient,...
The National Bank of Cambodia is pushing ahead with trials for interbank payments using blockchain technology that facilitates secure financial transactions.
To that end, the central bank partnered with Soramitsu Co., a Japanese blockchain specialist company, which will test distributed ledger technology to create new and innovative payment methods for banks and individual citizens.
According to Soramitsu, the eventual goal was to develop a complete new payment infrastructure for which the first testing phase could take place in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The central bank’s director-general Chea Serey said that the new technology is expected to “provide smooth, efficient, safe and affordable interbank transactions which will ultimately benefit end users” and would create “smart money” by providing secure settlement infrastructure for the National Bank and a more efficient payment infrastructure in a country where most financial transactions are still made in cash due to the lack of a modern financial infrastructure to support commercial and individual banking at scale.
Furthermore, Cambodia’s monetary policy is dictated by its dependence on the US dollar and the country’s central bank is actively looking at solutions to regain control. A blockchain system could be customised to benefit and strengthen the country’s sovereign monetary policy, including the local currency, the underused riel.
In the next step, a blockchain-based banking system could lay the foundations for a cashless society in Cambodia, a concept explored by the central bank for some time now.
“A cashless system is less costly and more transparent for the whole economy. This has always been on our agenda, but we needed time to study the different platforms available,” Serey said.
The idea is already falling on fertile ground with Cambodia’s first cashless mobile payment systems jumping up the bandwagon, among them eMoney, Wing, AMK, Asia Wei Luy and recently launched Pi Pay, SmartLuy, Tesjor and PayGo. China’s Alipay and Thailand’s TrueMoney are also available in Cambodia.
