Cambodian Centralized Digital Currency is on its Way

Project Bakong, a digital currency love child of the Cambodian National Bank is currently in its developmental stage, promising a fluent digital currency exchange system in the the South East Asian country. Revealed by the bank's director-general, Chea Serey, the service will be based on the blockchain technology and will be made public in the forthcoming months.

The vision for Project Bakong is to act as a “national payment gateway” facilitating transactions and popularizing cryptocurrencies across the Cambodian nation. As of publishing this, Bakong has received the support of 11 banks, with more on their way. The report by Chey Serey quotes that:

“Bakong will play a central role in bringing all players in the payment space in Cambodia under the same platform, making it easy for end-users to pay each other regardless of the institutions they bank with”

Users will be glad to learn that the Bakong wallet system will be linked to the their bank accounts, making this system very accessible to a larger portion of the Cambodian population. There are even plans to allow for cross-border payment by means of the Project Bakong, with trials of the project already underway as of last July, conveying an approaching launch date.

Shin Chang Moo, the president of Phnom Penh Commercial Bank, clarified that the digital currency will in no way be a threat to traditional banking; people should view it as an opportunity, as opposed to a surrogate.

A centralized digital currency push has been considered across the world, including in some of the financial hubs, including the UK and Japan, but also by some of the globe's most powerful corporations. Are we witnessing the formation of a trend, that will sooner or later become the status quo for developed nations?