Central banks in Japan and Europe explore digital currencies

Anxiety over Libra and digital yuan prompts joint research

The Bank of England, pictured here, is launching a joint research group into digital currencies with European, Japanese and Canadian central banks. © Reuters

KATSUJI KAMEI, Nikkei staff writer

January 22, 2020 03:57 JST

TOKYO -- Central banks in Japan, Europe and Canada are taking a joint look into issuing digital currencies in their home jurisdictions, hoping to offer a convenient and safe alternative to Facebook's Libra or the digital yuan.

The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Swiss National Bank and Sweden's Riksbank, along with the Bank of International Settlements, created a group to assess use cases for digital currency issued by a central bank, the institutions said Tuesday.