Cambodia Readies a Blockchain-Based Digital Currency

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) is readying a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to be launched at some point during the current fiscal quarter.

Chea Serey, NBC’s director-general, told the Phnom Penh Post this week the central bank was developing “the national payment gateway for Cambodia” as a blockchain-based, peer-to-peer platform with its own specially designed cryptocurrency. She did not give a definite date on when the CBDC would be launched.

Known as “Project Bakong” and first trialed by NBC in July 2019, the CBDC will work on a closed system supported by its banking members, one of them, Phnom Penh Commercial Bank (PPCBank) President Shin Chang Moo, told The Post.

Compared to conventional payment and transfer methods including credit and debit cards, Bakong is cheaper and more convenient, Chang Moo said. His bank is rolling out the system at all branches.

“We are in the final stages of the deployment,” he told The Post. “It has taken a little longer than expected…