Bank of Thailand to build trial CBDC payment network

The Bank of Thailand will develop a new prototype payment system as part of its trial central bank digital currency scheme, it announced on June 18.

The central bank’s CBDC prototype will be used by the Siam Cement Group. The company uses a blockchain network developed by Digital Ventures, the fintech arm of Siam Commercial Bank, to process payments between its suppliers.

“The project scope will include conducting a feasibility study and developing a process to integrate CBDC with the business’s innovative platform,” the central bank says.

The project will build on the central bank’s existing CBDC work, called “Project Inthanon”. In January 2020, during stage three of the project, the Bank of Thailand successfully completed a cross-border transfer prototype, co-developed with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

The central bank says the new stage of the project will integrate business-to-business payments using CBDC within a blockchain network. “The project marks an important step in broadening CBDC’s scope and adoption to wider audiences, starting with large corporates,” the Bank of Thailand says.

Project Inthanon and Siam Cement both use R3’s Corda blockchain platform. The project will begin in July and is expected to end at the end of this year.