Central Retail Corp., one of Thailand’s biggest department store chains, has developed a blockchain-based digital currency called C-Coin and is now testing it among employees, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
Fast facts
- The company is currently distributing C-Coin to its 80,000 employees as bonus to their usual salary. Employees can use the crypto coin to shop at Central Retail stores instead of cash.
- During the trial period, Central Retail will gauge the performance of the coin and aims to make it publicly available once all employees have signed up to use C-Coin and the trial period is over. “We’ll be looking to enhance the C-Coin after we have used it within our network. If our employees are able to use the C-Coin, then our customers should have no problems with it,” said Kowin Kulruchakorn, chief innovation officer at Central Tech, an arm of Central Retail.
- The company has yet to decide how to make C-Coin available to the general public, such as by listing the coin or making it available for trading.
- Central Retail currently operates 2,087 stores across Thailand, 117 stores in Vietnam and nine department stores in Italy, according to its website.
