Hong Kong Monetary Authority Starts New Phase of CBDC Study

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has launched the second phase of their pilot study on the digital Hong Kong dollar (e-HKD) and renamed the project as Project e-HKD+.

In collaboration with 21 financial institutions, the project will focus on 11 use cases for the central bank digital currency and tokenized deposits.

The project will have its own sandbox and is expected to last for a year. The three themes of the project are settlement of tokenized assets, programmability, and offline payments.

While many of the use cases are broad, the HKMA is still prioritizing the advancement of technology and legal groundwork for the potential issuance of an e-HKD.

Specific use cases include exploring near-real time settlement for interbank transfers and cross-border payments, as well as Delivery vs Payment (DvP) for Australia-based corporate investors through e-HKD and tokenized deposits.