- Peter Schiff took to Twitter to report that the RBI will roll out a retail pilot program for the digital rupee.
- The Federal Reserve authorities launched a 12-week pilot program to test the feasibility of the CBDC.
- The National Payments Corporation will host the digital rupee payment system during the testing phase.
Chief economist and founder of SchiffGold, Peter Schiff, took to Twitter to say that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will roll out a retail pilot program for the digital rupee.
Recently, the Federal Reserve authorities launched a 12-week pilot program in partnership with other commercial banks to test the feasibility of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). After the recent testing of the digital currency at the wholesale level, the RBI has decided to test the digital rupee in a retail setting.
Schiff, who has been a Bitcoin skeptic for the longest time, believes that the supply of crypto is soaring as demand for the same is collapsing. Over the past year, the supply of crypto grew by around 50% to almost 22,000.
Meanwhile, during that same period, the combined market capitalization fell by about 73%. Schiff who runs a precious metal dealership believes that as crypto remains a very volatile investment being decentralized, one must instead invest in gold for a safe investment.
Additionally, the National Payments Corporation of India will serve as the hosting platform for the digital rupee payment system during the testing phase. Commercial banks including, the State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, and IDFC First Bank will be seen participating in the pilot program.
Furthermore, the RBI wants each commercial bank in the pilot to test the retail use of the digital rupee with over 10,000 to 50,000 users.
According to the RBI:
Unlike cryptocurrencies, a CBDC isn’t a commodity or claims on commodities or digital assets. Cryptocurrencies have no issuer. They are not money (certainly not currency) as the word has come to be understood historically.
A person involved in the program said that the e-rupee will be stored in a wallet, and the denominations will be available as per the customer’s request. The program will provide access to safe money for payment and settlement as it is a direct liability of the central bank.
The government authorities believe that the wholesale CBDC has the potential to transform settlement systems for financial transactions and make them more efficient and secure.
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