Norway to test solutions for digital CB currency

ANKARA

Norway’s central bank will start testing various technical solutions for a central bank digital currency (CBDC), it said on Thursday.

“Norges Bank’s research into CBDCs has run for a good four years. A new element moving ahead will be technical testing combined with further analysis of the need for and the implications of introducing a CBDC,” a bank statement said, adding the test will continue over the next two years.

The statement noted that payment technologies have evolved at a rapid pace and that the share of cash payments in Norway is “now probably the lowest in the world.”

According to the Atlantic Council think-rank, the CBDC is the digital form of a country’s fiat currency that is also a claim on the central bank. Instead of printing money, the central bank issues electronic coins or account backed by the full faith and credit of the government.

Meanwhile, a number of central banks in the world are either researching or piloting a digital currency.

In April 2020, China became the first major economy to pilot a digital currency.