🚨 BIG NEWS ALERT 🚨
Multiple reputable Pakistani media outlets, including Business Recorder, Pakistan Today (Profit), ProPakistani, TechJuice, Daily Times, and Startup Pakistan, have confirmed that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is partnering with Japanese blockchain firm #Soramitsu to pilot a central bank digital currency (CBDC) commonly dubbed the digital rupee. Later this year, leveraging funding from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry under its Global South Future-Oriented Co-Creation Project .
⭕According to these reports:
💲The pilot will use Soramitsu’s CBDC platform.
💲Target population coverage is about 250 million people, representing a $400 billion economy making it Soramitsu’s most ambitious CBDC project to date .
💲A key feature is offline payment capability. Enabling transactions via smartphones without internet access, addressing Pakistan’s erratic connectivity and infrastructure challenges .
🪙SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad has publicly stated the central bank is “building up our capacity” for a digital currency and is finalizing virtual-assets legislation to support regulation .