Mexico Announces It Will Issue Its Own Digital Coin by 2024

The government of Mexico announced that the country’s central bank will issue its own digital currency. The statement of the official account of the presidency of Mexico informed that the development should be ready towards 2024, and remarked about the importance the technology has for the future of the financial structure of the country.

A statement issued by the official account of the presidency of Mexico on Twitter reported that the institution was planning to issue its own digital currency. The announcement also informed that this development was likely to happen towards 2024, putting the country on the list of the nations that are studying, or plan to release, their own central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The issued statement declared:

The Banxico reports that by 2024 it will have its own digital currency in circulation, considering these new technologies and the next-generation payment infrastructure are extremely important as options of great value to advance financial inclusion in the country.

Mexico is among the top five countries with the least financial inclusion in the world, according to a study realized by a company called Merchant Machine. The study, which was released in the month of March, found that Morocco, Vietnam, Egypt, the Philippines, and Mexico are the nations where the unbanked population is largest.

This data is backed by findings of the Banking Association of Mexico, which recognizes that 53% of the adults in the country do not have a bank account, and 7 out of 10 do not have access to credit. This represents a problem in the Mexican economy, that has to deal with a lack of trust that citizens have in financial products and services and the complications that citizens have to face in accessing these services.

Other countries, like the Bahamas (that launched the sand dollar) and China (that released its digital renminbi), are already in implementation phases of their central bank digital currencies, even running tests or allowing citizens to use them for retail purchases in some cases. The EU is also still studying the launch of a digital euro.

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