Japan’s ruling party proposes a yen digital currency within 3 years

A senior lawmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the ruling party in Japan said on Monday that the government should develop a digital yen currency preferably “within two-three years.” The lawmaker suggested that Japan should include the plan for digital currency in the mid-year key policy guidelines as reported by Reuters.

The remark was made by LDP head of the research commission on finance and banking systems, Kozo Yamamoto, in regards to Facebook’s plan to have a global financial footprint with the launch of Libra. The main question is whether sovereign countries will still be at the helm of money control in the future.

The same remark was made last week by a group from the party led by the heavyweight party member and minister for economy Akira Amari. Amari wishes that Japan takes the necessary steps to counter the influence likely to come from China’s soon to launch digital currency. Yamamoto told Reuters:

The sooner the better. We'll draft proposals to be included in government's policy guidelines, and hopefully make it happen in two-to-three years.

Yamamoto plans to work closely with Amari to see to it that the government adopts their proposals. Amid all these, central banks around the world have intensified research on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).