The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has recently completed the first experiment of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the Digital Turkish Lira, and intends to carry out more trials in 2023.
In a statement issued on December 29, the CBRT claimed that it had successfully completed its “first payment transactions” utilizing the digital lira.
In the first quarter of 2023, it said it will continue conducting restricted, closed-circuit pilot testing with technology partners before expanding it to include a few banks and financial technology firms in the year’s second half.
Before revealing more about the next stages of the research, which will further increase participation, it was said that the findings of these tests would be made available to the public via a “complete assessment report.”
In a study project titled “Central Bank Digital Turkish Lira Research and Development,” the Turkish central bank first disclosed in September 2021 that it was looking at the advantages of adopting a digital Turkish Lira.
The government said it had “taken no final decision on the issuing of the digital Turkish lira” at the time, indicating it had not yet committed to fully digitizing the nation’s money.
According to the CBRT’s most recent announcement, it would keep testing distributed ledger technologies’ “integration” with immediate payment systems in payment systems.
Along with its technical needs, it will also give priority to researching the legal elements of the digital Turkish Lira, such as the “economic” and “legal framework” surrounding digital identity.
Recently, a number of nations, notably Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom, started testing central bank digital currencies.
The Kazakhstan central bank has advocated the establishment of an internal CBDC as early as 2023 with a staggered rollout over three years, while the Bank of England has opened applications for a proof of concept for a CBDC wallet.
In a speech on December 8, assistant governor Brad Jones cautioned that a CBDC might displace the Australian currency and cause individuals to completely forsake commercial banks. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has recently voiced trepidation about its own CBDC plans.
