The president of the Central Bank of Brazil confirmed that the pilot program for a sovereign digital currency of the country will be launched this year, Cointelegraph Brasil reported.
The confirmation about the central bank’s digital currency came during an event on Monday, where Roberto Campos Neto, president of the Central Bank of Brazil, noted that a CBDC pilot program could start operating in the second half of this year.
The value of the upcoming CBDC would be tied to the national fiat payment system STR (Reserve Transfer System). Neto also confirmed that ‘Digital Real’ would have a fixed supply and only a certain amount would be minted, quite similar to Bitcoin:
“This [usar el STR en Real Digital] it is a way to create currency digitization without creating a break in bank balance sheets. This project should have some sort of pilot in the second half of the year.”
During his speech, Neto clarified that he still believes that cryptocurrencies are more prominent as a form of investment than a form of payment, adding that it could change if adoption increases among the masses.
The confirmation of a CBDC pilot for the second half of the year comes after a month of the central bank partnering with 9 banks to help with the development of their CBDCs.. With the confirmation of the central bank president, Brazil would join the growing list of countries working on their sovereign digital currency.
Currently, Brazil is looking to cash in on the cryptocurrency and digitization frenzy. In addition to its focus on CBDC development, Brazil also introduced a cryptocurrency bill in late February to regulate the cryptocurrency market. In the works for nearly three years, the bill defines various aspects of what constitutes a virtual asset (VA), a broker or exchange, and which arms of the federal government would have jurisdiction over the matter.
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