Notwithstanding the pilot’s launch, the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Israel stated that he was doubtful about the launch of the full-fledged Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), referring to Bitcoin (BTC) as a “pyramid scam”. It has been reported that a digital currency by the government has already been issued by the government in the form of the digital shekel’s pilot test.
A report issued by the Jerusalem Post on Monday stated that Andrew Abir, the deputy governor of the Bank of Israel, mentioned that a pilot program had been started for the digital shekel on behalf of the institution. Abir added while talking at a conference conducted by IDC Herzilya’s Fair Volume Forum that he was not confident about the issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) although he agreed that the pilot test of the digital shekel was in progress to be launched soon. He disclosed that his previous evaluation about the launch of CBDC within the next five years was only 20%, but now it was then increased somehow in the recent year primarily because of the advancement made by the other countries even then the expectation of its launch is less than 50%.
No formal declarations about the launch of a digital shekel have been made on the official website of Israel’s central bank while the publication of the news and its confirmation by the deputy governor. It was revealed by the financial institution that it had a framework for raising awareness about the advantages of CBDC for the economy of Israel, while the influence of benefits over the risks would also be discussed in the program.
Currently, the central bank mentions that it would focus on the launch of CBDC if the needs regarding the digital future digital economy are met by it, and it proves to be an efficient exchange of payments across the borders. It further expresses that the utilization of cash has also been reduced by the central bank to make sure that the public will only be allowed to make payments to a certain privacy level.
The central bank of Israel started the introduction of the CBDC four years back through an investigation for the exploration of the matter in 2018. The investigating team for investigation recommended that the CBDC should not be launched as any of the bigger economies of the world had not issued the digital currency at that time.
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