With Japan’s central bank investigating the rollout of a CBDC, JCB has joined forces with identity specialist Idemia and fintech Soft Space to investigate how any digital yen would work in stores.

The card firm is developing a JCBDC (JCB Digital Currency) that will be tested into next year using existing JCB contactless cards at merchant POS terminals.

Koremitsu Sannomiya, board member, JCB, says: "This project proves that we can use existing payment acceptance hardware for new CBDC payment systems, which is a huge benefit for both consumers and merchants."