First sovereign digital bond issuance in the EMEA region: Bank of Slovenia, BNP Paribas, and Clifford Chance
Yesterday, Slovenia issued a €30 million short-dated digital bond on the BNP Paribas Neobonds platform. Settlement utilised the Banque de France’s wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) as part of the Eurosystem’s wholesale Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) settlement trials. This marks the first sovereign digital bond issuance in the EMEA region. While the European Investment […]
Italian Banking Association Reports Success in Wholesale CBDC Trial Project Leonidas
The Italian Banking Association (ABI) has announced the successful trial of a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) known as Project Leonidas, conducted as part of the Bank of Italy’s sandbox. The trial, which took place last year, highlighted benefits such as atomic transactions, transparency, and information traceability. The testing phase occurred in 2023, prior […]
Project mBridge Enters MVP Phase and Welcomes New Member: Central Bank of Saudi Arabia
The mBridge cross-border central bank digital currency (CBDC) project has advanced to the minimum viable product (MVP) stage, the initial production phase. This initiative, a collaboration between the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub and the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the UAE, recently welcomed the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia […]
Bank of Israel Launches Digital Shekel CBDC Challenge
The Bank of Israel has launched its Digital Shekel Challenge, following the recent announcement of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) sandbox. This initiative invites participants from both Israel and abroad to develop innovative use cases for the digital shekel. Drawing inspiration from the BIS and Bank of England’s Project Rosalind, the Challenge aims to […]
Banco Central do Brasil Postpones DREX CBDC Initiative for Further Privacy Research
Last week, the Banco Central do Brasil officially announced a delay in its DREX central bank digital currency (CBDC) project, citing the need to further explore privacy solutions. In the interim, the bank plans to commence phase two, which will broaden the range of use cases. A call for suggestions is expected in the third […]
Bank of Japan’s CBDC Update: New API Sandbox for Digital Yen Development
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) recently shared insights from an interim report on its ongoing exploration into a central bank digital currency (CBDC), highlighting the launch of a CBDC API Sandbox earlier this month. This new phase of development draws inspiration from the Bank of England’s Project Rosalind and represents an advancement from the two […]
Project Agorá launched with seven central banks, featuring USD, Euro, GBP, and Yen CBDC digital currencies
Project Agorá was launched this week by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub, aiming to transform cross-border payments using tokenization. This initiative is aligned with the novel concept of a Unified Ledger, aiming to harmonise the efforts of seven central banks along with commercial banks on a unified, programmable platform designed to streamline […]
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
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
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. […]
