Central bank of the republic of turkey (cbrt) has recently completed the first set of tests for its long-planned digital currency. the tests were conducted in order to explore the use of distributed ledger technologies in payment systems and the integration of these technologies with instant payment systems. ali babacan, a founding member of deva, turkey’s opposition party, and erik voorhees, founder of shapeshift, have both commented on the issue.
Tests were conducted in turkey, and countries around the world are in different stages of researching and releasing their own central bank digital currencies (cbdcs). japan’s central bank is planning a cbdc experiment with the country’s megabanks, and the reserve bank of india has proposed a phased pilot of its version of a digital rupee. china is by far the furthest ahead of the major economies with citizens already spending the digital yuan.
Cbrt decided to pursue the project due to the poor performance of the turkish lira and the interest in digital assets like bitcoin. however, privacy advocates have criticized the idea of cbdcs, claiming they could allow the state to snoop on and control citizens’ spending. turkish officials have stated that digital identification is of critical importance for the project.
https://decrypt.co/118142/turkey-pushes-ahead-with-digital-lira
