Hong Kong’s HKMA Launches Project Ensemble: A Significant Move Towards Tokenized Banking

Hong Kong's HKMA Launches Project Ensemble: A Significant Move Towards Tokenized Banking

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has unveiled Project Ensemble, a new wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative aimed at enhancing interbank settlements through the tokenization of commercial bank money, or tokenized deposits. This project is set to trial in a dedicated wCBDC Sandbox, focusing on the settlement of various tokenization scenarios, including the […]

Updated Digital Euro Legislation Supports Permissionless Blockchains

Updated Digital Euro Legislation Supports Permissionless Blockchains

This week, the EU’s parliamentary Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs convened to discuss the digital Euro, unveiling an updated draft of the digital Euro legislation with significant revisions, including backing for permissionless blockchains. The draft now allows conditional payments in digital Euros on permissionless distributed ledgers, expanding beyond privately issued assets like crypto-assets or […]

Navigating the Trilemma: Central Banks, Digital Currencies, and the Risk of Bank Runs

Navigating the Trilemma: Central Banks, Digital Currencies, and the Risk of Bank Runs

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published an economics paper exploring the potential risks associated with the implementation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), particularly focusing on the possibility of a ‘bank run’ scenario. Central banks, according to the paper, face a unique trilemma, different from the blockchain trilemma of security, scalability, and decentralization. […]

Turkey Advances to Second Phase Testing of Digital Lira CBDC

Turkey Advances to Second Phase Testing of Digital Lira CBDC

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has made significant strides in its exploration of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), completing the first phase of its pilot program. A report released on New Year’s Eve detailed this progress and outlined plans for a second phase of testing, after which a decision on […]

European Central Bank’s Digital Euro Initiative: A €1.1 Billion Opportunity for Vendors

European Central Bank's Digital Euro Initiative: A €1.1 Billion Opportunity for Vendors

The European Central Bank (ECB) recently announced a call for vendors to provide services and components for the prospective digital euro, with potential contracts totaling over €1 billion. This initiative follows the ECB’s transition from the investigation to the preparation phase of the digital euro project, which began in October. However, a final decision on […]

Forward Titans Triumph in the Bank of Ghana’s CBDC Hackathon

Forward Titans Triumph in the Bank of Ghana's CBDC Hackathon

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) recently marked the completion of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) hackathon, a significant milestone in the development of its digital currency, the eCedi. The hackathon, a collaborative effort involving various stakeholders, was focused on creating innovative solutions for the eCedi using Hedera’s public Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and EMTECH’s […]

Bank of Korea Teams Up with LG CNS for Wholesale CBDC Trials

Bank of Korea Teams Up with LG CNS for Wholesale CBDC Trials

The Bank of Korea (BOK) has recently awarded a contract to LG CNS to develop a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) system. The contract is a result of BOK’s plans, announced last October, to conduct two wholesale CBDC trials. The first trial will explore the use of a wholesale CBDC for interbank settlement involving […]

BCBS Proposes New Capital Requirement Rules for Banks Dealing with Digital Assets

BCBS Proposes New Capital Requirement Rules for Banks Dealing with Digital Assets

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) recently launched a consultation in an effort to update the rules regarding bank capital requirements as they pertain to crypto-assets. This move represents a substantial step in the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency regulation, particularly focusing on how banks interact with digital assets. Central to the proposed changes is […]

Italy and Korea Forge Partnership on CBDC and RTGS Technology Innovations

Italy and Korea Forge Partnership on CBDC and RTGS Technology Innovations

The Bank of Italy and the Bank of Korea have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) focused on exchanging expertise in technologies supporting Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Their approaches to CBDCs, however, differ significantly. The Bank of Korea is exploring a wholesale CBDC aimed at enhancing tokenized bank […]

Free Transactions: A Hurdle for China’s Digital Currency Adoption?

Free Transactions: A Hurdle for China's Digital Currency Adoption?

The adoption of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), known as the digital renminbi (RMB), is said to be facing challenges for not having merchant fees. Unlike payment services like WeChat Pay and Alipay, the digital RMB doesn’t incur transaction fees for merchants, which initially seems beneficial. However, this lack of fees discourages point of […]

Subscribe Today!

Receive our FREE monthly newsletter, as well as invites to webinars and exclusive in-person events.