On Might 18, the Hong Kong Financial Authority (HKMA) officially initiated the e-HKD Pilot Program, a major undertaking underneath its ‘three-rail’ strategy.
This growth is seen as a strategic development in the direction of a possible introduction of a retail Central Financial institution Digital Forex (CBDC), or e-HKD, sooner or later. At this stage, HKMA has not but reached a last resolution on whether or not or to not launch the e-HKD formally.
16 corporations, comprised of entities from the monetary, fee, and expertise sectors, have been chosen to take part within the first set of pilot research 2023. These pilot research will likely be carried out to discover potential purposes throughout six completely different classes. These classes embody complete fee companies, programmable fee programs, offline fee choices, tokenized deposit mechanisms, Web3 transaction settlements, and tokenized asset settlements.
The e-HKD Pilot Programme is a vital initiative underneath the second rail of the HKMA’s three-rail strategy. It’s designed to discover the potential viability of a CBDC. Via this system, the HKMA will work hand in hand with a number of stakeholders to check the potential use instances of the e-HKD, in addition to the challenges and issues associated to its implementation and design. The information and expertise acquired from every pilot research will broaden HKMA’s understanding and fine-tune its strategy towards the potential launch of the e-HKD.
The official graduation of the pilot program was marked by an occasion attended by senior representatives from the 16 chosen corporations. These corporations used the occasion as a platform to stipulate the main options of their proposed use instances. Over the approaching months, the HKMA will likely be actively concerned with these corporations, supervising the pilot research and monitoring their progress.
Whereas the outcomes of the pilot research are more likely to change over time, the HKMA has expressed its intention to share the important thing findings with the general public throughout Hong Kong FinTech Week 2023. The HKMA additionally anticipates conducting extra pilot research with the {industry}.
Along with the pilot program, the HKMA plans to arrange a CBDC Knowledgeable Group to bolster additional collaboration between the federal government, {industry}, and academia in CBDC analysis. This group will comprise esteemed teachers from native universities who will provide their experience to assist information Hong Kong’s analysis into essential coverage and technical points surrounding CBDC. A few of these points embody privateness safety, cybersecurity, and interoperability.
Eddie Yue, the Chief Govt of the HKMA, expressed his enthusiasm concerning the graduation of the e-HKD Pilot Programme. He emphasised that whereas the HKMA hasn’t made a definitive resolution concerning the e-HKD’s introduction, the pilot program represents a wonderful alternative for collaboration and innovation between the HKMA and the {industry}.
Mr. Yue expressed gratitude for the {industry}’s energetic involvement within the pilot research and anticipation for the outcomes. He additionally welcomed the participation of educational specialists on this endeavor, highlighting the significance of a government-industry-academia collaboration in CBDC analysis to make sure the pertinence of analysis efforts and to remodel these outcomes into possible enterprise alternatives.
