Overview:
Cambodia does not have any Central bank digital currency project being worked upon yet. Cambodia is classified as a “least developed country” by the United Nations. Only 22% of adults had a bank or mobile payment account in 2017, well below the regional figure of 70% in East Asia and the Pacific, according to the World Bank. Large population of Cambodia uses US dollar instead of Cambodian Riel. The main focus of the government was to reduce the usage of US dollar and have population switch to the local currency Cambodian Riel. Another aspect was to boost the financial inclusion. This led to building a real time gross settlement system, called Bakong based on distributed ledger technology.
Bakong can best be described as a blockchain-powered retail payments system managed by the Cambodian central bank that allows interoperability among the different players in the country’s payments landscape.
Technical details about the Bakong project can be read here.