The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has moved into Phase 2 of its e-HKD pilot program, expanding its exploration into tokenized deposits and e-HKD. With 11 groups of firms selected, the initiative delves into practical applications such as offline payments and asset settlement. The creation of an industry forum aims to solve potential challenges while findings from the ongoing sandbox trials are expected by 2025.

Hong Kong Explores Future of Digital Currency With e-HKD+ Expansion

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) commenced Phase 2 of the e-HKD pilot program on Monday to explore new forms of digital money, including tokenized deposits and e-HKD. As part of this initiative, the HKMA renamed the project to Project e-HKD+, reflecting its expanded focus on the broader digital money ecosystem. The announcement details:

Under Phase 2, 11 groups of firms from various sectors have been selected to explore innovative use cases for e-HKD and tokenised deposits across three main themes, namely settlement of tokenised assets, programmability and offline payments.

Participating firms are Hang Seng Bank, Aptos Labs, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), HSBC, Standard Chartered, Blackrock, Mastercard, Liberea, Visa, ANZ, Fidelity, Chinaamc Bank of China (Hong Kong), Sanfield (Management) Limited, China Construction Bank (Asia), DBS, Kasikornbank (Kbank), Airstar Bank, Bank of Communications (Hong Kong), China Mobile (Hong Kong), and ICBC (Asia). They are divided into 11 groups.

The selected firms will also assess the commercial viability of these digital money forms. The HKMA aims to identify practical challenges in establishing a digital money framework that includes both public and private currencies.

The e-HKD Pilot was launched by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in 2023 as part of its broader initiative, Project e-HKD. The pilot program aims to explore the development and potential use cases of the central bank digital currency (CBDC), e-HKD, within Hong Kong’s financial system. The first phase of the pilot examined the foundational technologies and infrastructure needed for implementing e-HKD, laying the groundwork for further exploration.

The HKMA will establish the e-HKD Industry Forum to foster collaboration and address industry-wide concerns. Eddie Yue, HKMA Chief Executive, commented:

We look forward to working closely with industry participants in Phase 2.

An e-HKD sandbox will assist in prototyping and testing use cases, with key findings expected to be shared by late 2025.

Source : Bitcoin News - Sep 26, 2024