Japan’s largest credit card company JCB starts CBDC pilot in Tokyo

Japan’s credit card giant JCB is preparing to begin piloting a central bank digital currency (CBDC), using technology similar to that of the Bank of Japan. Version for testing the digital yen.

JCB is about to pilot CBDC in Tokyo

Report from news site NikkenJCB will begin piloting before the end of 2022 and has “prepared a CBDC prototype” using blockchain technology “similar to the CBDC model” used by the Bank of Japan (BOJ).

JCB wants to test ways of using CBDC for in-store payments and will give its employees the digital currency to spend at “Tokyo restaurants.” At the same time, through it, JCB wants to learn how the system behaves in the event of a central server outage, looking at how CBDCs behave in simulated “catastrophic” situations.

New Economy It is reported that JCB will work with a French facial recognition technology provider named IDEMIA on this CBDC project, along with a Malaysian fintech and payments company called Softspace.

Japan CBDC Launch Time

The Bank of Japan, the BOJ, like so many of its international partners, has yet to commit to launching a digital fiat. But like the Central Bank of Korea – the BOJ was clearly taken aback by the growth of a digital yuan in China, which has already been used in real-life cases in some of the country’s biggest cities. this country. Financial leaders in the private sector also expressed similar concerns .

As a result, the BOJ has been fast-tracking its digital yen development. The bank hopes to reduce the country’s long-standing reliance on cash – and promote contactless payments.

As Japan’s largest credit card company – and the only payment platform in the country with an international presence – JCB could find itself in a key position to partner with the BOJ if the latter eventually allows CBDC implementation. The handshake with the central bank will be even stronger if JCB develops market-ready CBDC solutions.

JCB recently announced its intention to “encroach” into the field of Web3. In August, the company announced that it would be setting up a research unit that would focus on the metaverse.