The man behind “Abenomics” says that Japan needs a digital yen – quick.
Speaking to the CoinTelegraph, Kozo Yamamoto, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Member of the House of Representatives and a former official at the Ministry of Finance, said that Japan should launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as soon as possible.
Yamamoto noted the three primary roles of money, namely being a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a unit of account.
The Abenomics architect said that it’s fine for corporations like Facebook to issue tokens and control the first two roles, but it’s the government’s duty to control the “unit of account” aspect.
“We must protect it (the role of a unit of account) no matter what. If Japan doesn’t issue a digital currency and people in the world use other digital currencies, the Japanese yen will be forgotten and lose its sovereignty.”
Yamamoto argued that even if all the tech giants issue their own tokens, they’d all be used within their own “walled gardens.” A digital yen, he said, could fill that gap and become a bridge between all of them.
“It is easiest for operators to use just one currency but for customers it is inconvenient,” he told the CoinTelegraph.
This isn’t the first time Yamamoto called for Japan to issue a CBDC, as previously reported, the former finance official said that he would be working with ruling party heavyweight Akira Amari to push the government into launching a digital yen.
He said “the sooner the better,” adding that they’ll “draft proposals to be included in government’s policy guidelines,” hoping to “make it happen in two-to-three years.”
Photo: 内閣府ホームページ