The Central Bank of Georgia plans to launch the digital lari, the country's digital currency, in the first half of 2023. They will also shortly publish some documents outlining the currency's concept. It will be used by the other participants to finalize their pilot proposal. The National Bank of Georgia, or NBG, will release a whitepaper on the digital lari to help interested partners improve their bids for the test phase of the project.

The NBG originally planned to launch a prototype version of digital money in 2022, but the trials were pushed back to this year.

The NBG said that the digital lari would be a cheaper, faster, and safer way to do business than the cash and non-cash fiat lari that is used now. Although, the services of intermediaries, commercial systems, or payment systems will be optional while conducting operations through the digital web.

Deputy Governor Papuna Lezhava told the media in an interview that the documents would be made public in the first half of this year. It was also conveyed that they would then debate how long it would take to implement the project with the winning partner. He also said that many other ways to test the digital version of the Georgian lari have already been approved. Whether to proceed with the project's implementation is yet to be finalized. The government official also stated that the initial pilot version will be rather limited. The technological properties of digital currency will be evaluated on this basis.

Georgia's monetary policy regulator stated that the NBG's mandate is to preserve financial and price stability. As digital technology has grown, it has also been necessary to develop a central bank currency and make a digital version of the lari. According to the bank, this digital currency was created in order to better satisfy the needs of the digital economy and boost the effectiveness of economic programs. It also said that the coin backed by the state will be legal tender in Georgia, which is a good thing.