Thailand’s biggest retail shopping centre to pilot digital currency project
Thailand’s biggest retail industry, Central Retail Corp, is reportedly testing a digital currency among its employees. As per Bloomberg, once the sandbox phase is finished, the giant firm is planning to extend its service to customers and the general public.
A blockchain-powered cryptocurrency, the “C-Coin,” is being currently offered to 80,000 Central Retail Corp employees globally in the form of a reward for exceptional performance, adding up as a bonus to the usual salary.
While holders can make use of C-Coin to pay for meals, purchase items and services from Central Retail’s partners, this is only a test project for Central Retail Corp. The long-term objective of the retail firm is a gradual transition to cashless societies alongside venturing into the e-commerce industry.
Chief Innovation Officer of Central Tech, Kowin Kulruchakorn, has said that the currency might be made available to the general public once all its employees have signed up after the firm has developed a better understanding of its performance.
Central Retail’s Central Tech unit has actually created the C-Coin, and it is responsible for managing all of its omnichannel and e-commerce systems.
Central Retail Corp is presently Thailand’s biggest shopping mall owner, having a chain of more than 40 department stores and high-end retail outlets across the country. It also operates Central Festival, Seacon Square and Big C Supercenter.
Its outside Thailand activities include running the Italian department store La Rinascente, Vietnam’s Big C supermarket chain and Danish brand Illum.
As crypto goes mainstream gradually in fintech and e-commerce markets around the world, Central Retail Corp is not the only firm developing a digital currency in Thailand. Recently, the Bank of Thailand had also announced that it is considering a central bank digital currency.
As per news sources, the initial testing phase for the digital baht is scheduled to commence in Q2 2022.
