It’s no secret that the number of countries trying to create a national digital currency continues to rise, and this time it’s Colombia that is looking to launch its CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) as soon as possible. As a Colombian government official told Semana magazine, the country’s CBDC plans are new monetary policy measures to improve the transparency of financial transactions. In the coming years, Colombia will thus be included among countries such as Russia, the United Kingdom, China, Brazil, and the EU, which are also striving to launch a CBDC.
At the same time, we also learned that the head of Colombia’s National Tax and Customs Authority, Luis Carlos Reyes, said that Colombian President Gustavo Petro will try to create a digital currency to prevent illegal financial activities such as tax evasion. At least for now, however, it remains a mystery what form of digital national currency Colombia will use, and thus whether it will be a CBDC or a national asset-backed currency, as is the case with Venezuela’s Petro digital currency project.
