Cambodian’s will soon be able to make near-instant payments via a new blockchain payment platform being launched under a system called Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) that will “ultimately undermine the popularity of the US dollar”, according to the Kingdom’s central bank director.
Speaking at the virtual “Consensus Distributed” event held this week Chea Serey, director of the National Bank of Cambodia said, the platform will the local economy become less reliant on US dollars – as Cambodia is considered one of the most dollarized in the world.
“There was no good reason for the country’s ongoing embrace of USD,” Serey said.
“The use of local currency is very minimal and the reason is more psychological than economic… In the case of Cambodia, all our fundamentals are strong. We have a very stable exchange rate, very low inflation rate, and a very good economic outlook,” she added.
The central bank director claimed 12 other banks were trailing the new platform, which could arrive by the end of 2020. The DLT network according to Chea was created to make the cohesion between banks, E-wallet providers and customers more efficient.
DLT is a digital system that records the transaction of assets where transactions and details are recorded in multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLT has no central data store or administration functionality.
Around the world, at least 40 central banks are researching and experimenting 10 specific use cases for blockchain and DLT systems such as central bank digital currency (CBDC) to see if they can solve long-standing issues.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
