Global Central Bank Digital Currency and Stablecoin Monthly Monitor (June 2021 Edition)
According to my real-time tabulation, 55 central banks are exploring or have recently explored retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) and the pace of development is accelerating. The Monetary Authority of Singapore launched a Global CBDC Challenge, to seek innovative retail CBDC solutions to enhance payment efficiencies and promote financial inclusion, partnering with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, among others. Stablecoin market capitalizations continue to increase although not at the torrid pace of recent months.
China’s new digital yuan test shows it can be programed to confine utility
The Chengdu government is issuing 12 million eCNY through a lottery to 100,000 residents as part of the ongoing central bank digital currency (CBDC) test. However, the free e-CNY embeds a pre-programed utility for paying for subway and bus tickets through Chengdu’s Tianfutong mobile app or for shared bikes on the Meituan mobile app, encourage users to take more public transportations. This appears to be the first time that eCNY programmability is being tested, in this case to ensure that the e-CNY can only be spent for specific purposes.
Thai SEC and Cayman Islands regulator take action on Binance
Binance continues to face scrutiny from regulators regarding the legality of its operations in certain countries. Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission and the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority are the latest financial regulators to announce a regulatory crackdown on the crypto exchange. This follows increasing scrutiny by regulators in Canada, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.
*For those interested in intra-day updates and news that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, please check out my Diigo fintech bookmarks: https://www.diigo.com/user/kiffmeister/Fintech
