Meet the Woman Behind Cambodia’s Moonshot Blockchain Project
Mar 18, 2021
Project Bakong
Leah Callon-Butler

As a little girl, Her Excellency Serey Chea was obsessed with “The X-Files” television program and the idea that we are not alone in this universe. Fascinated by the extraterrestrial and outer space, she dreamed of becoming an astronaut. But her father, Chanto Chea, who is governor of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) today, said: My poor girl, Cambodia is not going to launch any spaceship out there any time soon, so you’re not going to be able to get any job.

Chea, now 40, was self-conscious about holding a Cambodian passport. In the 1980s, Cambodia was isolated from the international community and she felt certain prospective international employers would jump to all sorts of conclusions about her nationality, the university where she studied and so on.

“I mean, I can’t imagine applying as a Cambodian to NASA,” she says of the U.S. space agency, laughing off a notion she thought so preposterous, so foolish, only a child’s imagination could come up with it.

Begrudgingly, she took the road well traveled to follow in Dad’s footsteps and study accounting instead.

“I realized very early on that when you’re a girl, and you’re from a developing country, there are certain doors closed to you already. So you explore other options,” she said.

Even before she graduated, her dad had offered her a role at NBC. It was 1999, it was her first-ever job and she positively loathed the idea of working at the central bank. It was way too boring for someone curious and creative.

But over time she’s clearly become more at ease with the idea. Before she turned 35, she worked her way up to become NBC’s director general. And today she’s heading a project with huge implications for Cambodia’s future.

You can call Project Bakong NBC’s moonshot. This blockchain-based “backbone payments system” could remake the lives of millions of people and set a benchmark for how such modern infrastructure can improve lives in the developing world and beyond. It’s certainly already turning heads within the crypto community, which is intrigued by the idea of central banks doing a digital currency thing.

Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, are essentially digital representations of the cash that is issued and controlled by a central bank. Many central banks are now exploring the idea and advocates say the technology could make money move faster, cheaper and safer, allowing for instant payments, faster settlements and lower transaction costs.

Additionally, for an emerging economy like Cambodia, where nearly 80% of the population is unbanked, a CBDC could help include marginalized communities, Chea says. Plus, it could help the nation regain its monetary sovereignty after more than 40 years dollarization, a phenomena that can help nations achieve greater currency stability, but reduces room for economic maneuvering.

Strictly speaking, however, while Bakong may exhibit many characteristics that are similar to a CBDC, it isn’t one, and Chea has spent a good chunk of all her public appearances over the past year trying to explain as much. “There is a lot of confusion about the nature of this project,” she says.
https://www.coindesk.com/meet-the-woman ... in-project

Cambodia aims to wean off US dollar dependence with digital currency
Southeast Asian country's 'Bakong' users grow amid COVID-driven digital shift
JADA NAGUMO, Nikkei staff writer August 4, 2021 18:08 JST

TOKYO -- Central banks across the world are rushing to develop their own digital currencies in a bid to provide safe and convenient payment systems as digitalization rapidly expands to many segments of the economy.

China has been testing its digital yuan in multiple cities while the European Central Bank announced last month plans to proceed with its digital euro project and launch a two-year investigation that will look into the development and impacts of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

While over 60 central banks are exploring the possibilities of a CBDC, it is Cambodia that so far leads the race.

The Southeast Asian country launched its "Bakong" digital currency in October 2020, ahead of launch plans from the world's major economies, and is currently the only live CBDC project aside from the Bahamas' Sand Dollar.

Bakong was developed by the National Bank of Cambodia, with help from Japanese blockchain technology company Soramitsu, in a bid to increase the presence of its own currency, the riel, and gradually shift away from use of the U.S. dollar.

NBC's director general, Chea Serey, who leads the project, told Nikkei Asia that "Bakong started sort of as a willingness to connect up the fragmented payment systems in Cambodia."

As of June, users of Bakong's electronic wallet had doubled from about three months earlier to reach 200,000. Bakong's overall system reaches about 5.9 million users -- including those reached indirectly through member bank mobile apps -- and for the first half of 2021 there were a total of 1.4 million transactions recorded, amounting to a value of about $500 million.

Chea Serey said that the big jump in users "is quite satisfying to see." She points out that the adoption of digital payments started to increase, especially following the coronavirus outbreak, saying: "The circumstance was ripe for people to switch to using a more digital medium."

Unlike cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, CBDCs are digital forms of fiat money backed and issued by central banks.

Bakong allows Cambodian citizens to pay at stores or send money through a mobile app, without the use of cash, and allows for settlements and remittances to be made in riel or U.S. dollars.

One of the main reasons behind project Bakong is to encourage the use of the riel.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Market ... l-currency

On Dollar/Riel; see also: business-and-finance/cambodia-moving-fr ... 44468.html

Anyone have any analysis on the Bakong app? Seems to address the issue of interbank transfers, but is it just a way to get people to use the Riel?

Straw poll: Would it make you more likely to use the Riel?

Bakong Adds Malaysian International Cross Border Payments
12/08/2021


The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) with its Bakong app, has launched a real-time funds transfer service between Malaysia and Cambodia with Maybank’s MAE app.

The agreement between the two banks’ e-wallets allows for transfers of up to USD $2,500 (or RM10,000 equivalent) daily for cross border and remittance payments.

This service “would allow Maybank customers to transfer funds directly to NBC’s customers using mobile numbers registered under their Bakong e-wallet.” On the launch, the service is limited to fund transfers from Malaysia to Cambodia, while transfers from Cambodia to Malaysia are set to be introduced at a later date.

NBC technical director-general Chea Serey said “The collaboration is just a beginning and I am sure there will be more that we can do together – for instance, for now, it is a one-way transfer, but we also work on both-way transfers where people from Malaysia can also send money from Bakong to their Maybank App to the local one in Malaysia.
More: https://www.b2b-cambodia.com/news/bakon ... -payments/

I just setup the Bakong app on my Phone and registered my Canadia account with it.
Did a $100 test deposit from Canadia to Bakong Wallet to Prasac account. No fee.
Canadia staff tell me there's no fee for transfers up to $1000. Max per day $2500
I didnt ask the fee for over $1000.
Looks like a handy option, especially if you have several Bank accounts here.

NBC’s Bakong Wins 2021 Nikkei Award for Financial Inclusion
AKP Phnom Penh, January 05, 2022 --
A digital currency run by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has been named one of the Awards for Excellence winners of the 2021 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards for its innovative technology and impact on the country’s economic and social development, Nikkei announced on Tuesday.

Called Bakong, the blockchain-based nationwide payment system from the NBC officially launched in October 2020 and is recognised as one of the world's first central bank digital currencies (CBDC).

"Bakong allows interoperability between different players in the financial system, making digital payment easier and more efficient," said H.E. Ms. Chea Serey, NBC Director General, in comments to Nikkei Asia. "This interoperability between different players in the financial system would not only create added value to end-users in terms of the services but also help bridge the [gap between] banked and unbanked [and] rural and urban, thus creating social cohesion."

"This is particularly noticeable among the migrant workers and students who leave their home villages to work or study in the urban areas and need financial connection with their family," she said.

Cambodia is classified as a "least developed country" by the United Nations. Only 22 percent of adults had a bank or mobile payment account in 2017, well below the regional figure of 70 percent in East Asia and the Pacific, according to the World Bank.

That was one of the key reasons the central bank developed the new digital currency, rolling out a system that would give everybody access to affordable financial services. The central bank worked with Japanese blockchain technology startup Soramitsu to develop Bakong, which is named after an ancient temple in Cambodia.

An awarding ceremony will be organised on Feb. 2, 2022.
- AKP