Digitalni šekel: Izraelski projekt CBDC že poteka

Israel is the latest country to admit it’s been working in a Central Bank Digital Currency for a few years now. While giving a conference in the Fair Value Forum, Bank of Israel Deputy Governor Andrew Abir said that the institution he represents already ran a pilot program for the digital shekel. More than that, he confirmed that the Israeli CBDC already exists.

Sorodno branje | Kitajska centralna banka naroči institucijam, da blokirajo kripto transakcije

However, Abir doesn’t believe that their digital shekel will see the light of the day anytime soon. The Jeruzalem Post citira ga: 

"Pred tem sem ocenil, da je možnost, da bi imel CBDC v petih letih 20 %," je dejal Abir. »Moja ocena se je v zadnjem letu nekoliko povečala, predvsem zato, ker s tem napredujejo tudi druge države. Vendar je še vedno manj kot 50-odstotna možnost.«

Among those other countries are Kitajskaje UK, Japonska, Brazilijain Nigerija. About Nigeria, yesterday Bitcoinist informed:

Direktor informacijske tehnologije CBN, Rakija Mohammed, je odmevalo tisto, kar so v preteklosti omenjale številne druge države. To pomeni, da Nigerija v tehnološki revoluciji ne bo zaostala.
"Vsi se zavedamo, da približno 80% centralnih bank na svetu raziskuje možnost izdaje digitalne valute centralne banke in Nigerije ne moremo zapustiti."

With all of those countries openly discussing a national digital currency, can we believe Abir’s estimations about the improbability of Israel’s CBDC within the next five years?

Expectations For The Digital Shekel And Other CBDCs

Since they were already discussing Israel’s CBDC, Andrew Abir took the opportunity to speak on other aspects of the digital shekel project. For one, he assured that its purpose isn’t to replace the banks.

"Žal mi je, da vam povem, vendar to ne bo odpravilo bank," je dejal. »Nobena centralna banka ne bo uvedla digitalne valute za ta namen. Banke bodo še vedno imele pomembno vlogo v celotnem plačilnem sistemu.

Since he seems to be speaking for all central banks, can we imply that discussions about this have already taken place? If everything’s digital, what will be the “important part” the banks will play? Chances are, CBDCs will be part of our future selves ’ lives. These questions are aspects of the process that the world has to start considering. 

The relation between the Shekel and the Dollar | Source: USD/ILS on TradingView.com

CBDCs Are One Thing, Bitcoin Is The Opposite

Of course, Abir couldn’t finish his exploration of the digital shekel without bashing Bitcoin.

“Another thing that might disappoint you is that any digital currency of a central bank would not be designed as a kind of protection against bitcoin. What we are talking about is a payment system. Bitcoin is not a payment system, and it is not a currency. In the best situation, it is a financial asset, and in the worst case, it is a pyramid scam.”

Literally, no one on the planet has ever thought that CBDCs will be “designed as a kind of protection against bitcoin,” but ok. Let’s answer. Since bitcoin is already zakonito plačilno sredstvo v Salvadorju, we can scratch the “to ni valuta” nonsense. And since that world-shattering event happened because of the Bitcoin Beach successful use case, we can also scratch “is not a payment system«. 

Sorodno branje | Banka Izraela je Bitcoin zaobšla z načrti za digitalni šekel

Government officials and Bitcoin critics can ignore it all they want, but the Lightning Network exists. In El Zonte, regular people use it every day for all kinds of transactions. 

#Bitcoin Salvador # LightningNetwork @nayibbukele @MorenaValdezSV @DokumentiranjeBTC @Bitcoinbeach @jorgebitcoinES @EricGrill pic.twitter.com/01DgmLhN4S

- Roman Martínez (chimbera) (@romanmartinezc) Junij 21, 2021

Bitcoin is legal tender in El Salvador because the government knows it works. Without Bitcoin Beach and the Lightning Network, it wouldn’t be. 

Sorry Andrew Abir, your argument is invalid. 

Predstavljena slika avtorja Taylor Brandon on Unsplash - Grafikoni TradingView

Source: https://bitcoinist.com/digital-shekel-israels-cbdc-project-is-well-underway/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=digital-shekel-israels-cbdc-project-is-well-underway