Leaks Digital Rupiah Progress, BI: Still Selecting Technology

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) revealed that the progress of the Digital Rupiah or known internationally as a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is in the development stage to select the technology to be used.

BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said that currently the progress of the issuance is still in the stage of testing the idea or concept (proof of concept) of developing technology that supports Rupiah Digital.

"We are currently finalizing the proof of concept, that is the first stage of digital rupiah. We are still choosing the technology to be used," Perry said at the Mandiri Investment Forum 2024 in Jakarta, Tuesday, March 5, 2024.

Perry added that the initial stages of digital rupiah issuance will be carried out through banks and non-banks selected to enter retail.

"We still choose the largest banking seller. Through this stage, we will distribute digital rupiah and provide permits to the largest business actors to enter retail with open accounts or other digital assets," he explained.

For information, in the first step in developing digital rupiah, BI has issued a White Paper related to the development of the Rupiah Digital on November 30, 2022.

Meanwhile, this White Paper is the initial presentation of the Garuda Project in the form of a high-level design for the Digital Rupiah and as a form of communication to the public regarding the plan to develop the Rupiah Digital.

This White Paper describes the integrated Digital Rupiah design configuration enabling the development of new business models, the architecture of Rupiah Digital technology, as well as support for regulatory and policy devices for the implementation of the Rupiah Digital Design.

In addition, the concept of developing the Rupiah Digital wholesale (w-Rupiah Digital) has limited access coverage and is only distributed for wholesale transaction settlements such as monetary operations, foreign exchange market transactions, and money market transactions.

Meanwhile, the development concept for retail Digital Rupiah (r-Rupiah Digital) has open access coverage to the public and is distributed to various retail transactions, both in the form of payment and transfer transactions, by personal / individual and business (mechants and corporations).