Mexico to launch gov’t-backed digital currency by 2024

Mexico intends to have its central bank digital currency (CBDC) in circulation by 2024, as part of the country’s bid to promote financial inclusivity, the country’s government has confirmed.

A number of countries have started to embrace CBDCs, with some of the most rapid developments in this sector being in the North American region. The Bahamas was the first to launch a sovereign digital currency with its Sand Dollar. Since then, other North American countries have made major strides, including Jamaica which intends to fully roll out its CBDC in the first quarter of 2022.

The country’s president has revealed that Mexico will not be left out. A Twitter account representing the Mexican government claimed that the Bank of Mexico is edging closer to launching its digital peso, setting a 2024 deadline.

El @Banxico informa que hacia 2024 tendrá una moneda digital propia en circulación, por considerar de suma importancia estas nuevas tecnologías y la infraestructura de pagos de última generación como opciones de gran valor para avanzar en la inclusión financiera en el país.

— Gobierno de México (@GobiernoMX) December 30, 2021

“Banxico reports that by 2024 it will have its own digital currency in circulation, considering these new technologies and next-generation payment infrastructure are of the utmost importance as options of great value to advance financial inclusion in the country,” according to the tweet.

The proclamation by the Mexican government came barely a day after a local news outlet reported that Banxico’s deputy governor Jonathan Heath had made a similar announcement. El CEO reported that during a video conference organized by the S&P, Heath said that even though cash is still king in Mexico, the bank has to stay in stride with its peers who are exploring CBDCs. He added that the target deadline is the end of 2024.

“We’re going to have the use of paper money as the preponderant payment domestically for a long time, so we don’t want to be absent from these technological advances,” Heath stated.

A month ago, yet another local outlet reported that the Banxico governor Victoria Rodriguez Ceja had made similar remarks.

“Authorities at the international level, given the interest that these virtual assets and their evolutions have awakened, have recognized the need and the potential to extend the functionalities of legal tender through the potential implementation of digital currencies issued by the Central Bank,” said the governor as reported by Independent en Español.

While Banxico remains open to a CBDC, the central bank has indicated that it has no intention of following in the footsteps of Central American nation El Salvador in making BTC legal tender, a decision that has backfired spectacularly for its fascist leader.

To learn more about central bank digital currencies and some of the design decisions that need to be considered when creating and launching it, read nChain’s CBDC playbook.

Watch: CoinGeek New York presentation, Digital Currency as a Tool for Financial Inclusion