Japanese Ruling Party Urges Gov’t to Speed up Digital Yen Issuance

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party will call upon the government to release a digital currency “as soon as possible” – or risk falling behind other nations, including China.

Per Jiji, via the Japan Times, the party, which recently elected Yoshihide Suga to become its leader and the country’s Prime Minister, is set to issue a report “before year’s end,” urging Tokyo to “craft a comprehensive law promoting economic security for all of society, including the private sector.”

The report, said the news agency, will seek to create a law that would legislate for the “introduction of a central bank digital currency as early as possible and facilitate its use by working closely with Western nations.”

The report also recommended that Tokyo prioritize work on so-called “6G” technology, with the aim of creating the world’s first 6G products and “having them adopted as international standards.”

The party has 113 out of 245 seats in parliament, and is currently in a coalition with the Komeito Party, which has 28 seats – meaning that should the ruling party face a vote on a concerted effort to enshrine the policies into law, it would likely succeed without breaking a sweat.

The central Bank of Japan (BoJ), much like its counterpart in South Korea, the Bank of Korea (BOK), has thus far refused to commit itself to a digital currency issuance – despite feverish levels of activity, with pilots, legal reviews and feasibility checks all underway or in the pipelines in both countries.

Both the BoJ and the BOK had been dismissive about issuing a digital currency until earlier this year. But media and industry experts in both nations have told Cryptonews.com that both Tokyo and Seoul are now concerned that China’s own, fast-developing digital yuan project will allow their East Asian rival to surge ahead in the tech race – particularly as Beijing is hopeful of using the digital yuan in cross-border trade deals with international allies.
___
Learn more:
It’s Official: China’s Digital Yuan To Target US Dollar Dominance
How CBDCs Might Change Our Daily Payments
Expert Warns Japan is Lagging ‘Six Years Behind China’ in CBDC Race