日本央行官員淡化對中國數碼貨幣的擔憂

Yahoo Business recently reported the following:

Bank of Japan official downplays fears over China's digital currency

Leika Kihara and Takahiko Wada

Reuters Thu., October 15, 2020, 6:06 a.m. PDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - No single digital currency will dominate global transactions if central banks strive to enhance their own settlement systems, a senior Bank of Japan official said, brushing aside fears China's rapid progress on a digital yuan could upend markets.

China, which has been ahead of other major economies in experimenting on a digital currency, has publicly said it aims to become the first to issue one to reduce its dependence on the global dollar payment system.

In efforts to catch up with China and private projects such as Facebook Inc's plan to issue its own virtual token, seven major central banks - including the BOJ - last week laid out key principles for issuing CBDCs.

Kazushige Kamiyama, who heads the BOJ's payment and settlement systems department overseeing CBDCs, said China may have a "first-mover" advantage on issuing a digital currency.

"But new technology is invented all the time. Even if you're ahead on the technology available now, you could get locked into what becomes old technology as time passes," he told Reuters.

As with other central banks, the People's Bank of China is likely developing a digital yuan mainly for the purpose of creating a stable, efficient settlement system, he added.

"I don't think a single digital currency will dominate the world, as long as each country makes full efforts to improve its settlement system," Kamiyama said.

"We'd like to keep tabs on what other central banks are doing and learn from them, not just from China but from other countries," he said.

Japan has been cautious about moving too quickly on CBDCs given the social disruptions it could cause in a country that has the world's most cash-loving population.

But China's progress toward issuing a digital yuan has prompted the government to reconsider and pledge in this year's policy platform to look more closely at the idea.

NO BIG RUSH

The BOJ announced last week plans to begin experimenting from next fiscal year whether it can issue a digital yen, joining peers in catching up to rapid innovation.

Kamiyama said he hopes to begin the first phase of experiments at the start of the next fiscal year in April and move to the second phase by the end of the business year in March 2022.

By sharing information on CBDC platforms, major central banks can make them mutually compatible and connect them in the future to offer cross-border settlement services, he said.

But Kamiyama said the BOJ was in no rush to issue CBDCs and would carefully examine ways to ensure a digital yen won't cause any disruptions to monetary policy and the banking system.

For example, the BOJ may set a limit on the amount of digital yen it issues to prevent an unwelcome outflow of funds from private bank accounts into CBDCs, he said.

"We're looking into CBDCs to enhance our settlement system, not to use it as a tool for monetary policy," Kamiyama said, stressing a digital yen would co-exist with bank notes.

"That means we need to ensure that issuance of CBDCs does not pose any negative impact on the economy, such as destabilising Japan's settlement system."

Translation

日本央行一位高級官員表示，如果各國央行努力改善自己的結算系統，那麼任何單一的數碼貨幣都不會在全球交易中占主導地位。他淡化了擔心中國在電子人民幣上快速發展可能顛覆市場的擔憂。

中國在試驗數碼貨幣方面領先於其他主要經濟體經。它曾公開表示，其目標是成為第一個發行該貨幣以減少其對全球美元支付系統依賴的國家。

為了趕上中國和私人項目, 例如Facebook Inc. 計劃發行自己的虛擬代幣，七家主要中央銀行, 包括日本央行在內, 在上週制定了發行CBDC的關鍵原則。

日本央行負責CBDC的支付和結算系統部門的負責人Kazyamage Kamiyama說，中國在發行數碼貨幣方面可能具有“先行者”優勢。

他告訴路透社：“但是新技術一直在被發明。即使您在現在可用的技術上遙遙領先，隨著時間的過去，您也可能會陷入變成舊技術的困境。”

他補充說，中國人民銀行與其他中央銀行一樣，可能會開發數碼人民幣，主要是為了建立一個穩定，有效的結算系統。

Kamiyama說： “只要每個國家都全力改善其結算系統，我認為單一的數碼貨幣不會統治世界。”

他說：“我們希望密切關注其他中央銀行的做法，並向他們學習，不僅是中國，而且還有其他國家。”

日本對於在CBDC上採取過快行動持謹慎態度。因為考慮到日本可能是世界上現金最多的國家，這可能造成社會混乱。

但是中國在發行電子人民幣方面的進展, 促使日本政府重新考慮並保證在今年的政策平台中更加仔細地研究這一想法。

沒有大的追趕

日本央行上周宣布，計劃從下一個財年開始試驗是否可以發行數碼日元，並與同行一起追趕快速的創新。

Kamiyama表示，他希望在下一個會計年度的4月開始時開始第一階段的實驗，並在2022年3月的業務年度尾時移至第二階段。

他說，通過在CBDC平台上共享信息，大型中央銀行可以使它們相互兼容，並在未來將它們連接起來，以提供跨境結算服務。

但Kamiyama說，日本央行不急於發行央行債券，並將仔細研究確保數碼日元不會對貨幣政策和銀行體系造成任何干擾的方法。

他說，例如，日本央行可能會設定其發行的數碼日元金額的上限，以防止私人銀行賬戶的不受歡迎資金流入CBDC。

Kamiyama表示： “我們正在研究CBDC，以改善我們的結算系統，而不是將其用作貨幣政策的工具。” 他強調，數碼日元將與鈔票並存。

“這意味著我們必須確保CBDC的發行不會對經濟造成任何負面影響，例如破壞日本結算系統的穩定。”

              So, Japan together with several major central banks have laid out key principles for issuing CBDCs.

(note: CBDC is the short form for Central Bank Digital Currency. It is the digital form of fiat money. Fiat money is the currency established as money by government regulations, monetary authority or law. Most of the world's money is called fiat money, meaning it is accepted as money because a government says that it's a legal tender which can be used to make purchases or to pay debts.)