Regulators globally are cracking down on digital coins,
alarmed at a rapidly expanding market that exceeded a record $2 trillion in April. China on Friday said it was banning all
cryptocurrency trading and mining.
In a presentation before legislators, central bank president
Mario Marcel said he had formed a high-level working group to study a
medium-term strategy for minting a "digital peso" in a bid to meet
the needs of an "increasingly challenging payments industry."
"From objectives linked to the needs of the public,
financial stability, and effectiveness of monetary policy, the Central Bank
will define, at the beginning of 2022, a proposal with options and requirements
for a eventual issuance of a digital peso in Chile," Marcel told
lawmakers.
The use of digital payments has soared in Chile, Marcel
said, with more than 40 percent of household consumption channeled through
credit cards or similar systems, as well as digital transfers.
Global regulators worry the rise in privately operated
currencies could undermine their control of the financial and monetary systems,
increase systemic risks, promote financial crime, and hurt investors.
Marcel said the working group would critically evaluate
risks to Chile's banking system and the efficiency of its monetary policy.
Chile, a comparatively wealthy South American nation, has for decades boasted one of the region's most stable banking and financial industries. -Reuters