The Australian Central Bank is focusing on a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) due to its potential economic benefits compared to a retail CBDC. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has launched Project Acacia, a three-year plan to explore wholesale CBDC opportunities. While the RBA and Treasury could still consider a retail CBDC, a…
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The Banque de France (BDF) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) have announced a collaboration on wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC). This partnership includes the HKMA’s involvement in Wave 2 of the European Central Bank’s Eurosystem exploratory work. The institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to innovate in wCBDC and tokenization markets,…
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The Central Bank of the Philippines revealed that it aims to conclude the ongoing wholesale CBDC pilot, Project Agila, later this year. The pilot, which currently includes the participation of six local financial institutions, might be the gate for democratizing access to securities according to Deputy Governor for Payments and Currency Management Sector Mamerto Tangonan.…
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The government of Hong Kong has announced Project Ensemble, an initiative that will test the functionality of a wholesale central bank digital currency (WCBDC) and the movement of tokenized deposits. If there is “sufficient interest” in the project, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will conduct a live issuance of the WCBDC in the future.…
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The Bank of Spain has announced that Adhara, a treasury and transactions payment platform, and a consortium formed by Cecabank and Abanca, two private banks, will be its partners in the development of several upcoming wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) trials, which will be complete outside of the ongoing digital euro process. Bank of…
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The IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva said wholesale CBDCs, on the other hand, have “fairly little space for undesirable surprises.” A myriad of unforeseeable “consequences” will be brought about by retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) claimed. The IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva erred on the side of caution regarding…
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Nine major financial institutions and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York have started to experiment with a digital dollar proof of concept to see if distributed ledger technology can improve settlement between central banks, commercial banks, and regulated non-banks. The New York Fed details that the proof of concept will be done in a…
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The central bank of Thailand is not going to rush with the launch of its digital currency as it’s not yet sure about the benefits it would bring. According to the head of the monetary authority, the development of the state-issued coin may take several years. Thailand’s Central Bank Wants to Better Understand Risks of…
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The report by PwC shows that 80% of central banks are considering or have already launched a CBDC. More than 80% of central banks are interested in launching a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or have already done so according to research conducted by accounting firm PwC. The second annual Global CBDC Index report released…
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Following Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s “payments and crypto reform plan,” the RBA has published a report exploring DLT tech and wholesale CBDC issuance. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) published a report into its two-year research project into wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) that emphasized the benefits of digitizing and autonomizing manual, paper-based banking processes…
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