Turkey will begin testing an undisclosed digital currency in the second half of 2021, the country’s central bank president, Naci Ağbal, told lawmakers on Friday.
“There is an R&D project started in digital money. Currently, the conceptual phase of this project has been completed. We plan to start pilot tests in the second half of 2021. ”
Ağbal’s surprise comments put Turkey on the fast track to a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Turkey rarely reveals any ambitions for digital currency; The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), known in monetary circles as the “bank of central banks”, does not even register Turkey as having an active CBDC project in its running database.
However, Turkey is now trying to overcome many more well-known CBDC projects. Although 80% of central banks are considering the CBDC according to the BIS, only a handful – Sweden, China, Bahamas – have advanced to the pilot / smooth launch phase.
The details of Turkey’s CBDC project itself are, at best, unclear. Local crypto distributor Koin Bülteni reported in September that the central bank was hiring experts for its digital currency research and development team.
Among the topics of apparent interest: blockchain, cryptography and big data.