Central Bank of Turkey Successfully Tests Payment Transactions Using Digital Lira

of Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has successfully tested its first transaction using the Digital Turkish Lira.

The first payment transaction on the Digital Turkish Lira Network has been completed under the leadership of CBRT. The central bank plans to conduct further limited closed-circuit pilot tests with technical stakeholders during the first quarter of 2023. All findings are then made available to the public through a final evaluation report.

In 2023, CBRT will also select various banks and fintech companies to participate in a new test of the Digital Turkish Lira Collaboration Platform.

A digital identity is very important to the whole project, as the research on the legal implications of the digital Turkish lira has already revealed. Turkey’s central bank aims to prioritize further research on the economic and legal framework of digital currencies. Technical requirements will also be analyzed extensively over the next year.

CBRT will announce an advanced phase of the pilot study to expand participants. The bank will continue to run tests on real building setups. Testing will cover the use of distributed ledger technology in payment systems and the integration of such technology with instant payment systems.

digital turkish lira

In October 2022, Turkey announced its 2023 budget. The budget includes a section dedicated to research on new Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), outlining plans for tests such as those currently completed.

Plans for a new CBDC to integrate digital identities and FAST systems were also outlined in the budget. From this and CBRT’s latest release, it is clear that digital identities are paramount to his CBDC launch in Turkey.

Turkey’s Immediate and continuous transfer of funds The (FAST) system is an instant payment system. FAST allows customers to submit payment orders at any time through system participants. The FAST system itself is still relatively new, having launched in December 2020 and only bankers could send payments. In January 2021, the system started serving all customers.

In February 2022, the central bank will system success Since launch:

“Through the FAST system, Immediate remittances are available 24/7, An average of 3.5 million payments per day are processed and transferred between customer accounts in less than a second. “

The success of FAST seems to have allowed central banks to continue their efforts to further advance the digital economy. Tests of his new CBDC look good, but it could be a long time before Turkey can operationalize his CBDC.