Reserve Bank of India CBDC enhancements aim to boost adoption
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is reportedly planning to introduce new features to popularize the e-rupee retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), with transaction volumes running way short of the RBI’s end-2023 target (18,000/day versus a one million/day. The features include allowing digital rupee transactions when a customer is offline and linking the e-rupee to India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI). In fact, many banks have already gone live with QR code-based e-rupee UPI interoperability, so this doesn’t seem to be new news. Also, HDFC Bank is reportedly already working with IDEMIA to build an offline e-rupee platform for feature phones. [Read more at Reuters]
Minutes of the July 2023 Bank of England CBDC Technology Forum
At the July 26, 2023 meeting of the Bank of England’s (BoE’s) CBDC Technology Forum Tom Mutton (Chair) explained that they were now at the start of the design phase of the digital pound roadmap, during which they would conduct experiments and proofs of concept, and develop a detailed blueprint. He noted that the design phase was expected to last for 2-3 years, after which a decision would be made on whether or not to proceed to the build phase, during which the Technology Forum is expected to provide ideas and expert analysis that could inform and challenge the Bank of England’s experiments and the eventual digital pound blueprint. [Read more at the BoE]
HSBC and HKUST to conduct one week hypothetical e-HKD trial
HSBC and the School of Business and Management of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST Business School) will run a one-week hypothetical e-HKD proof of concept. The bank will use distributed ledger technology (DLT) to simulate programmable money and instant settlement for retail payments. Around 200 HKUST Business School staff will receive hypothetical e-HKD to spend at five campus merchants, such as cafes. They can also receive rewards as a digital token. I’m not certain about this, but it may be running as part of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) e-HKD Pilot Programme announced in May 2023. [Read more at HSBC]
*For those interested in intra-day updates, check out my searchable Diigo Fintech developments database, which is also a good place to go to query for past developments: https://www.diigo.com/user/kiffmeister/ART.
Kiffmeister’s central bank digital currency monthly monitor
Just a reminder that I produce a monthly digest of central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments exclusively for the official sector. So (only) if you work at a central bank, ministry of finance or international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank) and who would like to receive it by email on the first business day of every month, please DM me on LinkedIn or email me at chronicles@kiffmeister.com.
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