[The President of the Central Bank of Cambodia stated that digital currency will support local legal currency]
Cross-border QR Code payments through Cambodia’s digital currency Bakong are expected to boost the use of the riel, Central Bank of Cambodia Governor Chea Serey said.
Bakong aims to boost the riel's use in digital transactions, even though Cambodia still relies on the U.S. dollar for more than 80% of its economic activity. In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Chea Serey noted that the authorities plan to increase the share of riel in digital transactions, especially in cross-border payments.
Currently, Bakong supports QR Code payments between Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, and is compatible with China UnionPay. Reports show that digital payments through Bakong will total US$70 billion by 2023, nearly twice the GDP of Cambodia.
Bakong was launched in 2020 to simplify payments for individuals and businesses. Although called a digital currency, Bakong is backed by the Cambodian riel (KHR) and the U.S. dollar (USD), rather than traditional central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Chea Serey pointed out that the complexity of international digital currency is that countries need to integrate different technologies to solve challenges such as capital flows and real-name authentication (KYC). Going forward, Cambodia’s central bank plans to launch cross-border payments with India by June and is working on a similar collaboration with Japan.
