The Japan Credit Bureau, in collaboration with fintech company Soft Space and payment card provider Idemia, launched a pilot program to test CBDC acceptance.
The companies said they want to complete the development of JCBDC (JCB Digital Currency) by the end of the year and conduct pilot tests with merchants in Tokyo up to March 2023.
Idemia will provide offline payment options for digital currencies for people without smartphones, including biometric payment cards.
“We at Idemia firmly believe that CBDCs are redefining the very fundamentals of the payment ecosystem,” comments the company’s managing director of APAC financial institutions, Romain Zanolo.
“We’re proud that our ability to innovate has enabled CBDC payments with existing card and POS terminal hardware. Idemia’s, JCB’s, and Soft Space’s joint payment system expertise will usher in worldwide CBDC growth.”
Turkey has a similar project. The government said it was working on a CBDC system that will be integrated with the country’s central bank FAST instant payments service and its digital identity system.
The new phase of the CBDC project, which was announced in September 2021, will involve testing the CBDC’s use in payments and wholesale banking transactions.
