Congratulations to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and Nepal's Ministry of Finance on a landmark step: the proposed amendment to the Nepal Rastra Bank Act now legally recognises Central Bank Digital Currency as tender, while drawing a clear line against privately issued cryptocurrencies.
Legal clarity, defining what digital currency is, and isn't, under law, is the foundation every other CBDC conversation gets built on. Nepal is moving early and moving deliberately.
What the amendment does
The Nepal Rastra Bank (Third Amendment) Bill, under consideration in Parliament, widens the definition of "currency" in Section 2 of the Nepal Rastra Bank Act, 2002 beyond physical banknotes and coins to include digital currency issued by the central bank.
Eighteen MPs registered amendment proposals to the bill. Among them, MPs Sushil Khadka, Ganesh Parajuli and Kamal Subedi submitted amendments defining Central Bank Digital Currency and granting legal recognition only to digital currency issued by Nepal Rastra Bank, with an explicit statement that virtual or crypto currencies issued privately will not be treated as legal tender under the Act.
NRB Executive Director Deergha Rawal noted that the amendment covers CBDC specifically, and that matters relating to private crypto are already addressed under Nepal's anti-money-laundering laws.
Why it matters
A CBDC cannot be issued into a legal vacuum. Before design questions, retail or wholesale, account or token, tiered KYC, offline capability, a central bank needs statutory authority to issue, and a settled answer on what counts as tender. Nepal has now put that question in front of its legislature rather than leaving it to guidance.
Two weeks ago, our CEO Harpreet Singh Maan was in Kathmandu meeting with Nepal's Ministry of Finance, Nepal Rastra Bank, and other institutional stakeholders on digital currency and CBDC infrastructure readiness. Seeing this legal foundation take shape so soon after is a strong signal for where the country is headed.
Congratulations to everyone who moved this through committee. TEIZA remains ready to support the next stage of that work.
