Bank of Thailand Governor Says Use of Digital Currency Instead of Cash Won’t Happen Anytime Soon

BANGKOK – A plan to use digital currency, instead of cash, will not happen in Thailand within the next 3-5 years, said Veerathai Santiprabhob, Governor of Bank of Thailand (BoT).

Mr Veerathai admitted that the use of digital currency, although success in some developed countries, is not easy and takes time because of complication, a readiness of people and an efficiency of technology.

New states and developing countries will take a long time to switch to using digital currency and it will not happen within the next three to five years, he said.

His comments were made after Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of International Monetary Fund, asked central banks worldwide to consider using digital currency in future, instead of cash.

Sweden, for example, is now using an e-Payment system almost entirely, still finds that using digital currency is certainly a difficult task and people in the country must be well prepared first, said Mr Veerathai.

The BoT has not yet launched a Central Bank Digital Currency with the public and it is now testing the use of digital currency for settling payment among financial institutions, he said.

The BoT hopes that full implementation of using digital currency among financial institutions would take place during the first quarter of 2019, he added.

Source: TNA