Mexico’s central bank (Banco de México) has announced that it will “have its own digital currency in circulation” by 2024. Thus, the Latin American country has put its name alongside other countries like China and Indonesia, which also unveiled plans to launch their CDBCs soon.

Digital peso by 2024

In a recent Tweeter, the government of Mexico revealed that Banco de México (the Central Bank of Mexico) will implement a CBDC in the country’s financial system by 2024.

The authorities stressed the importance of such a decision, saying it could be “of great value in advancing financial inclusion” in the country.

In an interview for a convention hosted by S&P Dow Jones Indices, Jonathan Heath – Deputy Governor of Banco de México – confirmed the news, saying:

“We’re working on a project, we even have a timeline where we think maybe by the end of 2024 at the latest, we should make it work perfectly (CBDC).”

A CBDC is quite different from decentralized cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. The first is a digital version of a fiat currency. It is fully centralized and controlled by an entity such as a central bank. On the other hand, bitcoin is decentralized because there is no central authority behind it.

Mexico has shown some pro-bitcoin stance in recent months. A few weeks ago, the country’s largest supermarket chain – Elektra – allowed customers to pay their bills in BTC instead of fiat currencies.

In addition, the third richest person in Mexico – Ricardo Salinas Pliego – compared the main cryptocurrency to gold and advised people to invest in it as soon as possible.

Who else runs to a CBDC?

The launch of a central bank digital currency has been a target for many countries around the world.

In accordance with its communist regime, the People’s Republic of China – the country with the most hostile stance towards cryptocurrencies – has made numerous attempts to promote its digital yuan over the past 12 months. At one point, authorities announced that they would even allow athletes and foreign visitors to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to use the financial proceeds.

Earlier this month, Indonesia also revealed its intention to issue a digital form of its national currency. The country’s central bank believes that a CBDC is a more reliable option than bitcoin, ether, and other digital assets.

“A CBDC would be one of the tools to fight crypto. We assume people would find the CBDC more credible than crypto, ”the financial institution said.