Taiwan Central Bank Governor Yang Chin-long Says CBDCs Will Be the Ultimate Settlement Asset in Tokenized Finance

A central bank digital currency, or CBDC, is a direct liability of a central bank and can take the form of a retail CBDC for everyday public payments or a wholesale CBDC for settlement between financial institutions. Yang Chin-long said tokenized assets still need an anchor in central bank money. Stablecoins process about $10 billion in payments globally each month, compared with about $1.3 trillion for Visa, underscoring the role of CBDCs in trusted and secure cross-institutional settlement.

Taiwan’s central bank began building a retail CBDC prototype platform in June 2022 and completed a tokenized-payment-flow trial with Financial Information Service Co. and participating banks in 2024. In 2025, it connected the platform to Taiwan Depository & Clearing Corp. and used ordinary corporate bonds denominated in New Taiwan dollars to test wholesale CBDC support for delivery-versus-payment settlement. A final report issued on April 15, 2026, said neither the issuance timetable nor the amount had been decided and recommended dedicated legislation if the project proceeds.