Japanese financial software firm Soramitsu has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Bank of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Payment Systems Department on the launch of a proof-of-concept project for a Laotian central bank digital currency (CBDC). Under the agreement, a digital form of the Lao kip, called the DLak, would launch Feb. 7. According to an explanatory video, the central bank would provide DLak to commercial banks in exchange for fiat currency, and the user would exchange fiat for DLak from the commercial bank. The user would then make purchases from participating sellers using a …

Laos has become the latest nation to begin exploring a central bank digital currency (CBDC), announcing upcoming research on the subject in a partnership with Japanese distributed ledger technology (DLT) firm Soramitsu. According to a Sunday report from Nikkei Asia, the project is expected to begin this month and follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Laos’ central bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency to study the development of CBDC. The study will assess the operations of banks and other financial intermediaries within the financial system in addition to assessing the broader transactional needs of the Laotian …

This week’s headlines from Japan included Coincheck updating the public on a recent data leak, a blockchain tech outfit unveiling plans for a digital local currency, BitBank facing a breach similar to Coincheck, the Japan STO Association gaining its first full-time trust bank member, and Japan achieving the second highest 24-hour Bitcoin trading volume numbers for May. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. Coincheck updates public on user data leak Tokyo-based crypto exchange Coincheck faced a hack between May 30 and June 1, leading to hundreds of users' leaked data. The …