CBDC activity heats up, but few projects move beyond pilot stage
Does government-issued digital money pose an existential threat to cryptocurrencies? Probably not, but stablecoin usage could narrow. Government-issued electronic currency seems to be an idea whose time has come. “More than half of the world’s central banks are now developing digital currencies or running concrete experiments on them,” reported the Bank for International Settlements, or BIS, in early May — something that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. The BIS also found that nine out of ten central banks were exploring central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, in some....
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The Retail CBDC will be tested in a limited retail environment with 10,000 participants and three major banks. On top of its wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects and proof-of-concept Retail CBDC testing with corporates, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) will extend the scope of CBDC development aimed at retail to a pilot phase. A possible real-life application of the "Retail CBDC" will be conducted inside the private sector on a limited scale. As the Aug. 5 announcement on the official page of the BOT goes:“The BOT will assess the benefits and associated risks from the Pilot to....
Nigerian Central Bank governor Godwin Emefiele told attendees at the eNaira Hackathon that technical upgrades will add to the attractiveness and accessibility of the CBDC. The eNaira, Nigeria’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), will enter the second phase of its expansion with new technology to beef up its user base, Nigerian Central Bank governor Godwin Emefiele said Thursday, speaking at the 2022 eNaira Hackathon in Abuja. The eNaira, Africa’s first CBDC, was launched in October 2021.“The eNaira is a journey, not a one-time event,” Emefiele said, adding:“We don’t have a choice but to....
While a number of countries are working on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), on Tuesday, the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) announced it will soon be piloting a CBDC project. The BoJ is working with a firm called Ecurrency Mint Incorporated and plans to pilot the cryptocurrency in May. Jamaican CBDC to Pilot this May Jamaica, the island country situated in the Caribbean Sea has plans to pilot a CBDC this May as it has been working with an “extensive procurement process.” The country’s central bank, the BoJ, has chosen a technology provider to help with the CBDC solution.....
Over $12 million in value was issued in the pilot with commercial and central banks in Hong Kong, Thailand, the UAE and China taking part. A multi-jurisdictional Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot has been marked “successful” by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) after a month-long test phase that facilitated $22 million worth of real-value cross-border transactions.The central banks of Hong Kong, Thailand, China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) took part in the pilot program along with 20 commercial banks from those regions.More than $12 million worth of value was....
The Bank of Ghana (BOG) says it has signed an agreement with Giesecke Devrient (GD) to implement a pilot central bank digital currency (CBDC) project. This pilot CBDC, which is a precursor to the e-cedi digital currency, is set to be tested with banks, payment service providers, merchants, consumers and other relevant stakeholders. Learning From the Trial Phase In a press release, the Ghanaian central bank says GD will provide the technology and a solution that suits Ghana’s requirements. The press statement adds that during the trial phase, a study seeking to look at “the....