State Bank To Launch Pakistan’s Digital Currency Soon

Web Desk — Having made impressive gains in digital banking, the State Bank (SBP) is going to launch Pakistan’s Digital Currency in the future.

The launch of digital currency will surely be a major step towards Digital Pakistan, though its adoption requires tough regulations.

Digital currency will intercept Pakistan’s physical currency in many ways by cutting the cost of financial dealings and changing the flow of capital in society.

State Bank’s Digital Financial Services Group Additional Director Shaukat Bizinjo lately said several central banks, including SBP, are exploring the concept of CBBCs (callable bull/bear contracts) as a potential avenue for launching digital currencies.

Bizinjo, during International Conference on Mobile Commerce 2023, said SBP was engaged in consultations with financial experts and institutions regarding CBBCs and digital currency launch.

He said Electronic Money Institutions could make notable progress via e-anking, through the launch of e-money wallets for consumers and merchants, besides other digital payment instruments such as prepaid cards and contactless payment instruments.

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Pakistan’s E-Money Institutions

Pakistan, already, has four live commercial Electronic Money Institutions, including NayaPak, Finja, CMPECC, and Sada Tech Pakistan, having a considerable e-money balance of Rs2 billion, managing 1.6 million e-money wallets, according to SBP officials.

What Is Digital Currency?

Any currency available exclusively in electronic form is called digital currency. Let’s assume that you go to an Auto Teller Machine (ATM) and make some payments for your utility bills. By doing this you made an electronic payment of your liabilities instead of making hard cash payments. To understand digital currency, let us give you another example. A person, who is in a grocery store and pays for all his purchases by using his mobile device or a credit card, is actually paying in the form of digital currency.

The Future of Digital Currency

We can not deny the importance of digital currency in the fast-changing world. Because of faster payments, less expensive, smooth international transactions, efficiency, lesser corruption, and maximum financial inclusion, the future of digital currency is written on the wall. Keeping all these factors in mind, we can say that digital currency may soon push physical currency to a corner.