Cambodia’s Central Bank Pushes Ahead with Blockchain Payments Trials

Cambodia’s central bank has revealed plans to continue to develop interbank payment solutions using blockchain.

Back in April, the National Bank of Cambodia announced that it was working with Japan-based distributed ledger startup Soramitsu to trial the technology, with an eye to potentially implement blockchain at the central bank.

The bank’s director general, Chea Serey, has now indicated that that work will continue, telling The Phnom Penh Post:

“At this stage we will focus on the operational functionality of the system, but we believe the system can further be customized with application development to benefit the [central] bank’s monetary policy, including the use of the local currency.”

That said, she reportedly stressed that the central bank isn’t looking to develop its own cryptocurrency – rather, it is viewing the tech (for now, at least) squarely through the lens of interbank payments.

This approach, Serey explained, would help provide “smooth, efficient, safe and affordable interbank transactions which will ultimately benefit end users”.

According to the report, the central bank is utilizing Hyperledger Iroha, one of the blockchain initiatives under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation-led Hyperledger project. Iroha was developed by Soramitsu, along with tech firms Hitachu and NTT Data, and blockchain startup Colu.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), which has an ownership stake in Colu.

Cambodia National Bank image via Maurizio Biso/Shutterstock.com