TOKYO: Japan’s Finance Ministry is considering establishing a panel of experts to examine systematic and technical challenges for the envisaged issuance of a central bank digital currency, looking at its feasibility, informed sources said Thursday.

The panel, seen to be set up in April at the earliest, is expected to discuss the legal status of a CBDC in Japan, the distinction from existing cashless payment methods and the handling of related personal information.

The Chinese, European and U.S. central banks have started considering the introduction of CBDCs.

The Bank of Japan began its test on a CBDC in April 2021.

In its basic policy for economic and fiscal management adopted at a cabinet meeting in July 2020, the Japanese government said it would study CBDCs through cooperation with other countries.

In a speech on Tuesday, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said that the BOJ must and will realize a CBDC.

JIJI Press