Japan’s Ministry of Finance published a report of an expert panel on central bank digital currency (CBDC) on December 13 where members considered how to approach its design.

Earlier this year, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) completed its two-year proof-of-concept research and is currently conducting a three-year pilot programme.

CBDC is envisaged to be a credit risk-free digital form of currency that users would pay with their smartphone apps or cards, the central bank said.

Currently, a two-tiered CBDC