ICYMI: The CBDC Tracker team, which I recently joined, has released a new update of its comprehensive open source central bank digital currency (CBDC) database. Along with updated project information, many changes have been made to make it a more accurate, comprehensive, timely, and useful tool for CBDC research. We’ve also opened up a Telegram group to crowdsource the news collection.
Eurosystem launches digital euro project
The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to launch the investigation phase of a digital euro project. The investigation phase will last 24 months and aim to address key issues regarding design and distribution. It will examine the use cases that a digital euro should provide as a matter of priority to meet its objectives: a riskless, accessible, and efficient form of digital central bank money. The project will also shed light on the changes to the EU legislative framework which might be needed.
Survey Results on the Possibility of e-hryvnia implementation
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) surveyed 100 financial market experts to determine the market niche and potential use cases for an NBU-issued central bank digital currency. Most respondents believe retail cashless payments and cross-border payments and settlements to be the most promising use cases for e-hryvnia. Second came G2P welfare payments, featuring smart contract technology to restrict the CBDC’s use to specific purposes or during a special period of time. There was also considerable interest in the potential of e-hryvnia as an instrument for virtual assets settlements.
Binance: Fiat off-ramps keep closing, reports of frozen funds
Amy Castor reports that Binance customer funds continue to increasingly become trapped inside of Binance, as the fiat exits close around the exchange . Binance has told its UK customers that it had disabled GBP withdrawals after its key payment partner, Clear Junction, ended its business relationship with the exchange. Clear Junction provides access to the UK Faster Payments network.
*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
