The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) is also now planning on initiating the testing phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) which is expected to start next year. Naci Ağbal, the Chairman of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has said that they have successfully completed the conceptual research phase of the central bank digital currency project and now they plan to move ahead with the testing of digital currency.
As reported by the local media outlet Koin Bulteni, Naci Ağbal said while speaking before the Turkish Parliament that they intend to initiate the testing phase of their CBDC in the second half of the next year. He said:
“There is an R&D project initiated on digital money. Currently, the conceptual phase of this project has been completed. We aim to start pilot tests in the second half of 2021.”
With this announcement, Turkey’s central bank has now entered into the list of those central banks that have entered into the testing phase of their respective central bank digital currency projects. China’s central bank the People’s Bank Of China (PBOC) is on the top of the list as it is advancing really fast with its CBDC project called Digital Yuan and is on the cusp of launching this digital currency.
These remarks from the Chairman of CBRT have come at a time when the country is struggling with the growing inflation. This inflation has led to the collapse of the native currency of the country known as the Turkish Lira. Due to this, many people in the country have diverted their attention towards digital currencies especially Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency in the world in terms of market cap. As a result, the adoption of Bitcoin in the country is growing rapidly.
It might be surprising news for some people but they should know that the Turkish central bank is working on Digital Lira since the mid of the year 2019.