Mexico’s Central Bank Will Launch Digital Currency by 2024

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s central bank will have its own digital currency in circulation by 2024 as part of efforts to boost financial inclusion.

“These new technologies and next-generation payment infrastructure are extremely important,” the federal government posted late Wednesday on its Twitter account, confirming the bank’s plan. 

Central banks around the world are developing similar alternatives to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. In Mexico, financial regulation blocks banks from dealing with them. Outgoing Banco de Mexico Governor Alejandro Diaz de Leon said in a Dec. 21 interview that policy makers were looking at a digital currency issued by the central bank. 

Banxico, as the central bank is known, laid out a plan to create a digital currency platform based on aspects of its SPEI interbank payment system in a report it published Dec. 17 on its website, but the report doesn’t establish a firm launch date. The plan would create the currency that could be used by people without bank accounts, the report said. 

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