Lebanon will launch its own digital currency in 2021: report

Lebanon's central bank is reportedly moving toward the launch of a digital currency next year, according to a Tuesday report.

Bloomberg, citing Lebanon's National News Agency, reported that the digital currency is intended to shore up "confidence" in the country's banking system.

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Riad Salameh, the central bank governor in Lebanon, has said as far back as mid-2019 that such a project was in the works. At the time, the goal of the project was to provide the local economy with a purely cashless transaction system — but in those early days, concerns around money laundering and security had yet to be resolved. 

If launched, Lebanon's central bank would join the growing number of institutions pursuing such projects to fruition. Earlier this year, The Block published a wide-ranging report on the efforts being undertaken by major central banks worldwide to launch central bank digital currencies (CBDC)