Central Bank of Bahrain to Offer Digital Payments Platform

The Central Bank of Bahrain is likely the next to offer a digital currency, Reuters writes.

The bank plans to offer a digital Dinar, which will come from a digital payments platform available “around the clock,” per Sky News Arabia.

This will also come with a gradually-rising share of financing for smaller businesses, with those businesses having 20% of the portfolios of local banks by the end of 2025 if things work out.

Digital currencies from central banks have been on the rise as of late, with something of a conflict being set up between central banks and cryptocurrencies as banks ponder ways to get ahead of a new interest in independent digital coins.

For instance, Indonesia is looking at using central bank digital currencies (CBDC) as a way to combat cryptos. Juda Agung, an assistant governor with the bank, said recently that a digital rupiah could be used to “fight crypto,” and that people could “find CBDC more credible than crypto.”

“CBDC would be part of an effort to address the use of crypto in financial transactions,” Agung said.

Then there’s the situation in China, where the government has been coordinating for months to roll out its digital yuan, which has included a crackdown on other cryptos. China said in September that any cryptocurrency-related transactions were then illegal.

Before that, China announced in May of this year that bank regulators had banned financial institutions from performing services related to cryptocurrencies.

With these actions, the Peoples’ Bank of China is looking to replace cryptocurrencies with its own currency, using regulation to try to ensure that people see the digital yuan as a more credible thing than other cryptos.

Read more: To Fight Crypto Competitors, More Central Banks Eye Digital Currencies of Their Own

Likewise, in India, a digital currency may also be in the works. The government there has also been cracking down on crypto. A bill slated to be presented there could make it so a CBDC could be issued, with other parts to prohibit cryptocurrencies except for those that help promote blockchain.