Japan’s ruling conservative party is clamoring for a digital yen.
Reuters reports that Kozo Yamamoto, the senior ruling party member behind Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” policy, said that Japan should create its own digital currency “within two or three years.”
“The sooner the better,” Yamamoto told Reuters, adding that they’ll “draft proposals to be included in government’s policy guidelines, and hopefully make it happen in two-to-three years.”
Yamomoto’s comments come hot on the heels of similar proposals, including one from a group led by economic revitalization minister and ruling party heavy Akira Amari. Amari apparently hopes a digital yen would counter China’s upcoming digital yuan.
Some Japanese lawmakers feel China’s planned digital currency could spread widely among emerging economies and may be used as a way to help China advance its digital hegemony and its Belt and Road Initiatives.
While technical and legal issues would make it difficult for Japan to create a digital yen anytime soon, Yamamoto said that he would work with Amari to push the government into adopting their proposals.
Photo: Japanexperterna