India is conducting offline functionality tests on its newly launched central bank digital currency (CBDC) — the digital rupee —, the executive director of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Ajay Kumar Choudhary said.

The RBI launched the pilot for the digital rupee on Nov. 1, recruiting 50,000 users and 5,000 merchants for the test. 

Choudhary said the RBI’s next step is to test the offline functionality of the CBDC, adding that the RBI wants to gauge the CBDC’s potential for cross-border transactions and linkage with legacy systems in other countries.

Choudhary said the CBDC would eventually act as a replacement for cryptocurrencies and become the medium of exchange.

Author: Katie Lin