Uruguay’s Central Bank (BCU) has announced plans to start a six-month pilot program of issuance and use of digital notes of the Uruguayan peso, Bitcoin News reported.
The test plan aims to evaluate whether or not it transforms into a way of doing business in the future.
The program consists of a test with 10,000 mobile phone users of ANTEL – the country’s government-run telecommunications provider. Registered users will be able to interact with merchants as well as peer-to-peer in money exchanges.
To take part, Uruguayans “must download the application for phones from the epeso.com.uy website, access the digital wallet, register and make the first charge in Red Pagos (national payments and collection company) to create the digital wallet (Cash In),” the bank explained, adding, “The mechanism is available for both smartphones and non-smartphones.”
The first issue of digital tickets will consist of 20 million Uruguayan pesos, of which 7 million were already transferred to Red Pagos, the bank declared.
“This is not a new currency, it is the same Uruguayan peso that instead of having a physical support has a technological support,” said Mario Bergara, the President of the Central Bank.
Mr. Bergara added that if the bank decides to continue the digital currency beyond half a year, physical money will not be shut off immediately, stating that “for the comfort of all citizens, the transition will take a long time.”