Japan Credit Bureau to Test run CBDC on Existing Infrastructure

The Japanese credit card company, Japan Credit Bureau (JCB) has announced the start of its Japan Central Bank Digital Currencies (JCBDC) project. As announced by the company on October 24, the project aims to utilize Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) transactions using JCB’s existing credit card infrastructure.

The project is a collaboration between IDEMIA, a french company, and Soft Space, a Malaysian fintech company. Interestingly, the three companies will work on three aspects. Firstly, “utilization of touch payment infrastructure provided by JCB”, “provision of cards for CBDC”, and lastly “construction of a simulated CBDC handling environment”.

Subsequently, the company will address issues with the integration of payment infrastructure. Also, there will be a provision for a friendly environment for a range of users, including those who have no idea about the use of smartphones.

By the end of 2022, the JCBDC project intends to develop a  payment solution. Therefore, several demonstrative tests will be done at physical stores from now till the end of March 2023. This is in order to verify the technology as well as eradicate issues.

Similarly, the company is working on other applications, like Web3.0, Metaverse, and other initiatives.

Countries Double up on CBDC Projects

The idea of a national digital currency is one embraced by many nations of the world as they race to complete their version of digital currency. Last week Jamaica’s apex bank, Bank of Jamaica collaborated with the government to facilitate and promote the use of its CBDC dubbed JamDex.

Also, India took its desire for a national digital currency to the next level with the release of a concept note after it had earlier shared plans to implement the digital rupee through a staged approach.

Meanwhile, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) recently introduced a blueprint for a global CBDC network. The blueprint will bridge the gap between different distributed ledger technology networks and existing payment systems.

Once implemented the blueprint will solve the issue of interoperability as banks will now require a single global connection for their CBDCs to interact with other countries and traditional fiat currencies.