A profile of Tokyo-based Soramitsu, which worked on Cambodia's blockchain-based “quasi-digital currency” system and is running CBDC studies in other countries
Rest of World : X: @restofworld X: @restofworld : A Japanese blockchain startup partnered with Cambodia to create its “quasi-digital currency” system. Now, it's collaborating with central banks in Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines, too. https://restofworld.org/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Soramitsu’s work sits in a longer run of central-bank digital-currency experimentation in Asia, including Thailand’s CBDC proof-of-concept with R3 and banks. Its Cambodia engagement gives the company a concrete public-sector reference as it studies potential projects elsewhere in the region.
The profile also arrives amid parallel efforts to test bank-backed digital money outside public blockchain markets, such as Japan’s planned deposit-backed digital-currency trial for large businesses. That makes the distinction between exploratory studies and live monetary infrastructure especially important.
First-order effects
- Soramitsu gains a stronger position as a specialist supplier to central banks in Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines, while Cambodia’s system becomes a reference point for those engagements.
- The participating central banks can evaluate a blockchain-based model through studies without committing to a full currency launch or replacing existing payment systems.
Second-order effects
- CBDC technology vendors and incumbent financial-infrastructure providers face more pressure to demonstrate that their systems can meet central-bank requirements, not merely support private crypto applications.
- If the studies progress, local banks and payment providers may need to prepare for interoperability and settlement models that differ from conventional account-based payment rails.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward a fragmented CBDC market in which national authorities select and test distinct technical stacks rather than converging quickly on one platform; cross-border compatibility would remain a central constraint.
- As more public institutions run pilots, blockchain vendors may gain legitimacy through regulated deployments, while scrutiny of governance, resilience, and monetary control becomes more consequential than crypto-market adoption.
The trend: Central banks are increasingly treating digital-currency research as payments infrastructure procurement, testing controlled designs before making any issuance decision.