Global central banks are pressing ahead with testing digital currencies, with China leading the way

Global central banks are pressing ahead with testing digital currencies, with China leading the way

Global central banks are pressing ahead with their investigations into launching their own digital currencies, with China at the head of the pack.

China's central bank proposed global rules for central bank digital currencies - also known as CBDCs - on Thursday at the Bank for Institutional Settlements conference.

The Bank of Japan on Friday held the first meeting of a coordinating committee on CBDCs, saying it will begin testing "technical feasibility of the core functions and features required" of such currencies in April.

Japan's central bank said it still has no plan to issue a CBDC any time soon, but thinks it needs to be experimenting to stay ahead of developments in payments.

Global central banks are working hard on how they might issue digital currencies, largely in response to plans by private companies such as Facebook to develop their own currencies and to the increasing use of digital payments.

A CBDC would let people access central bank money digitally to hold and make payments. The public can currently only hold central-bank issued money in the form of physical coins and notes, and largely uses electronic cash held at banks or on prepaid cards.

A group of central banks, including the Federal Reserve, the Bank