This article is from cointelegraph.com.br and the original article can be read here in Portuguese
The Brazilian central bank announced that the tests of Real Digital, the digital version of the national currency, previously announced for the second half of 2022, will now only be carried out in 2023.
The information on the postponement was provided by the economist of the Central Bank (BC), Fábio Araújo, who is responsible for the Real Digital project within the BC during a virtual debate on the subject, promoted by the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban).
According to him, the initial schedule foresaw the first pilots in 2022, but the strike by Central Bank employees delayed the schedule.
“We had the intention of starting the pilots [tests] maybe even at the end of this year, but the strike greatly delayed the schedule. Anyway, in 2023 and, for a good part of 2024, we will have the pilots running and the conditions to be sure of the launch of the digital currency in the second half of 2024”, said Araújo in a virtual debate on the topic, promoted by Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban).
Also according to the BC, when Real Digital is launched, people interested in using the CBDC must obtain a virtual wallet from an agent authorized by the Central Bank, such as a bank or payment institution.
The initial version of the digital currency will be an additional option to the use of conventional banknotes, and can be converted to any other form of payment available today – such as a conventional bank deposit or in physical reais.
According to the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, among the objectives of Real Digital is to enable smart contracts and decentralized finance on the Central Bank CBDC platform.
“The Real Digital initiative is a response to the rapid progress of digital transformation and society’s demand for native means of settlement in a new environment. conditions for important efficiency gains to be achieved”, he said.
Strike at the Central Bank
The strike by Central Bank employees began on April 1 and is still going on indefinitely, as the strikers declared that they should not give in to government pressure for a smaller readjustment than that required by the category.
While BC servers ask for a 27% readjustment, in addition to career restructuring measures, the government is willing to grant a linear readjustment of 5% for all civil servants.
The strike by BC servers has been affecting, in addition to the Real Digital tests, other BC activities such as the disclosure of the daily Ptax rate, which leaves the financial market in constant attention. There are also rumors, unconfirmed by BC, that if the strike continues systems with Pix and Open Banking could be affected.
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