Inspired by El Salvador’s bold initiative in embracing Bitcoin, Guatemala and Honduras — which are also Central American countries — have started exploring the potentials of central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs.
But even if El Salvador has proven that turning Bitcoin into a legal tender is possible, the said countries will be taking a different approach when it comes to adopting virtual currencies. Instead of embracing cryptos, Guatemala and Honduras decided to look into central bank digital currencies (CBDC) instead.
In Guatemala, its central bank, the Banco de Guatemala, has already named its CBDC and called it “iQuetzal”, which was named after the country’s national bird.
In Honduras, the board of directors of its central bank, the Central Bank of Honduras, has already given the green light to explore CBDCs.
Its president, Wilfredo Cerrato, said that this initiative aims to know the viability of using CBDCs to improve the country’s economy. The bank is also considering launching a pilot test soon.
The rise of the digital economy
The Central American Monetary Council, or locally known as Consejo Monetario Centroamericano, which is the top monetary authority in the region, is also urged to support cryptocurrencies.
But even with the big potential of virtual currencies, central banks wouldn’t immediately adopt them without sufficient preparations.
José Alfredo Blanco, vice president of Banco de Guatemala, said that a committee has already been formed to discuss CBDCs six months ago, but he conceded that it will still take a long time to finish the investigation phase.
CBDC’s growing adoption
While other countries prefer to adopt cryptocurrencies, other nations have chosen a different path by adopting CBDCs. Nigeria is set to launch its “eNaira”, Ukraine has already authorized its central bank to issue digital currencies, and more countries are expected to adopt CBDCs to prime themselves for a digital-centric economy.
Image courtesy of Cointelegraph News/YouTube
Source: https://bitcoinerx.com/bitcoin/guatemala-and-honduras-start-exploring-cbdcs/
- American
- Bank
- Banks
- Bitcoin
- board
- board of directors
- CBDC
- CBDCs
- Central Bank
- central bank digital currencies
- Central Banks
- Council
- countries
- cryptocurrencies
- currencies
- digital
- digital currencies
- economy
- Green
- Growing
- HTTPS
- Initiative
- investigation
- IT
- launch
- Legal
- light
- locally
- Long
- months
- Nigeria
- Other
- pilot
- president
- set
- SIX
- start
- started
- support
- test
- time
- top
- Ukraine
- Vice President
- Virtual
- virtual currencies
- youtube
