The Bank of Israel is inviting feedback on a newly-published high-level design for a potential digital shekel.
The central bank has been exploring the creation of a CBDC since 2017. While no decision has yet been made on whether Israel will push ahead with a rollout, the publication of the possible design is being described as a "significant milestone".
Any digital shekel (DS) would be multipurpose - retail and wholesale - and available to the entire public, including children, foreigners (including tourists), all types of businesses, public institutions, and financial entities.
Similar to cash, the DS would be a universal means of payment - anyone can pay anyone, and anyone can receive payment from anyone. All payments would be immediate and final and the design would also support offline payments.
The central bank says the CBDC would be free for private users and cheaper than exiting digital payments for businesses.
Meanwhile, the private sector cold use it as the basis of their own advance payment use cases, taking advantage of the secure infrastructure of the Bank of Israel, in a competitive and open environment that prevents the creation of "walled gardens".
The digital shekel would also maintain interoperability with other payment systems, allowing payments where one side is in the digital shekel and the other, for example, in a bank account.
Yoav Soffer, digital shekel project manager, says: "The Bank of Israel has not yet decided whether to issue a digital shekel, but it is important for us to prepare, and deepen the knowledge and understanding together with the ecosystem regarding each of the possible components of the digital shekel system."