In an interview with CNBC, Assistant Governor of National Bank of Cambodia, Serey Chea, said that her country is experimenting with the blockchain payment system. She expressed hope that in the future, the country will implement the open ledger technology to enhance efficiency and reduce transactional cost.
Chea especially emphasized the importance of payment through blockchain technology in cross-border transactions. Although the country has been experimenting with blockchain payments in its domestic retail sector too, the primary focus of the blockchain payment will be on the sending and receiving payments from abroad.
Underlying Logic
It makes a lot of sense for the country like Cambodia as many Cambodian workers are employed in Malaysia and do monetary transactions back to their home country regularly. It also explains the logic behind the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the National Bank of Cambodia and Maybank of Malaysia regarding blockchain technology implementation. The specific details of the collaboration are not yet revealed, but it is a common understanding that both banks have agreed to come together for the implementation of blockchain payment across borders.
So that you know, Cambodian workers have to bare transactional fees of at least 10% for sending the money, which is quite a cost. With blockchain payment, the costs will be going to be less while the time required for the transaction will reduce significantly. Another advantage of blockchain implementation will be in the form of more control over the money, which, in turn, will help them to run the economy of the country more productively.
Just a couple of months ago, in July, we had also witnessed the successful blockchain pilot project implementation by Union Bank in the Philippines. The cross-border payment was made from the Philippines to Singapore using blockchain, which turned out to be fast and affordable as compared to the conventional system.