⚠️ HRF CBDC ⛓️🪙 alert from HRF for Philippines (14-FEB-2024)

🗝️ℹ️ (Key Information)

CBDC Status: Pilot

CBDC Launch: n/a

CBDC Model: n/a

CBDC Issued: n/a

Inflation Rate: 5.82%

One-Sentence Summary:

The Philippines' Central Bank is focusing on the development of wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) aiming for financial stability and payments efficiency, amidst outcry over potential violation of human rights and civil liberties in the country.

✅ The Central Bank of 🇵🇭 piloted a wholesale CBDC project known as Project CBDCPh in 2022 hoping to enhance the stability of the country's payment system.

✅ Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor Eli Remolona Jr., in 2024, hinted at the launch of the wholesale CBDC by 2026.

✅ The early sentiment behind CBDCs was laced with cautious optimism as it promised to streamline payment efficiency, even though it fell short in addressing financial inclusion.

✅ Governor Diokno in 2022 hinted that CBDCs may require legislative involvement given that they venture beyond the scope of the central bank's charter.

✅ After the early completion of Project CBDCPh, other digital payment systems emerged as favorable options.

✅ In 2023, a new pilot project was launched - Project Agila, focusing on payment efficiency and stability.

✅ Several prominent financial institutions like BDO Unibank, Inc., China Banking Corp., Maya Philippines, Inc., Citibank N. A. Manila, were on board for Project Agila.

✅ The 2024 updates reject the option of a retail CBDC and lean towards a wholesale one, rejecting the use of blockchain technology.

✅ Freedom in the World report raised red flags about the possible misuse of CBDCs by the governmental bodies, enabling easy seizure of citizens' finances and thereby undermining opposition.

✅ Corruption and non-transparent functioning of institutions thus call into question the potential risks of CBDCs, bringing potential for political favoritism and surveillance.

#Philippines #CentralBankDigitalCurrency #HumanRights #FreedomHouse #BankgoSentralngPilipinas #ProjectAgila

As we see both potential and risks in the development of CBDCs in 🇵🇭, what are your thoughts? How can these digital currencies be developed to truly benefit the people and prevent governmental misuse? Let's discuss!

Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated summary of the original text from HRF, forigve fuck-ups plox. If you find it useful, ⚡ the Tracker Bot because the AI and Cloud bits are not free to run.

Source of data: https://cbdctracker.hrf.org/home (npub1zhqcda52mrvcc0vkwegwsp5xtpk6l6x5kqx85f06tu9lw5h6xx0scch0dw)

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