The Bank of Israel announces the preliminary design plan for the "multi-purpose" digital shekel

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the Bank of Israel has proposed a design scheme for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that may be adopted in the future, provided that a decision is made to launch such a currency. In a document released on Tuesday, the Israeli central bank described the proposed digital shekel (DS) as a "multi-purpose CBDC," which can be used for both retail and wholesale.

The document states, "The digital shekel will be a multi-purpose digital currency that meets the retail needs of end users such as households and businesses, as well as the wholesale needs of financial institutions." Therefore, the Bank of Israel will provide a digital currency equivalent to cash while upgrading the existing settlement systems of financial institutions, adding "smart" features such as composability and programmability.

The Bank of Israel also emphasized that no decision has yet been made on whether to issue a CBDC. Therefore, the design scheme proposed in the document should only be regarded as a preliminary concept.