Palau launches blockchain-based savings bonds (Soramitsu)
The Government of Palau launched a prototype of its blockchain-based savings bond system, Palau Invest, which will offer Palauan citizens, via a mobile app, a simple way to invest in their country while earning returns. The funds raised will be allocated to key national projects such as bridges, roads, and public infrastructure. The project is sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) Global South Future-Oriented Co-Creation Project. The system runs on Soramitsu’s SORA v3 Hub Chain’s Hyperledger Iroha 2-based network. [Read more at Soramitsu]
Capgemini 2025 World Payments Report (Capgemini)
Capgemini published its annual World Payments Report that reflects the views of 600 corporate treasurers from across three industries: insurance, retail, and automotive. It also includes payments insights from focused interviews and surveys with over 200 senior payment executives of leading banks, financial service organizations, payment service providers, industry associations, and central banks representing all regions of the globe. The report finds that supportive regulations and innovative industry initiatives, especially regarding open finance and instant payments, have resulted in surging non-cash payments in the Asia-Pacific region. Also instant payments, now operational in over 80 markets, are picking up speed. [Read more at Capgemini]
Stablecoins, money market funds and monetary policy (ECB)
The European Central Bank (ECB) published a paper that documents the very different short-term (12-week) responses of stablecoins and money market funds (MMFs) to crypto and U.S. monetary policy shocks since 2019. It shows that crypto shocks are inconsequential for MMFs and traditional financial markets but negatively affect stablecoins. In contrast, U.S. monetary policy shocks significantly affect MMFs and stablecoins, but in opposite directions. While prime MMF assets grow after contractionary monetary policy shocks, stablecoin market capitalization significantly declines. [Read more at the ECB]
Kyrgyzstan on the path to creating a digital som (CBPN)
[September 27, 2024] Central Bank Payment News (CBPN) published an article by Aigul Bakesarieva, Head of the Digital Som Project Group, National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic on central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments at her central bank. On May 25, 2022 the Board of the National Bank launched the digital som concept based on a two-tier retail model. The digital som will be a unique digital token that will be stored in a special digital wallet, with transfers . occurring directly from one digital wallet to another. [Read more at CBPN]
Plus I’m repeating a story from yesterday’s Daily that was missing the links:
Euro WCBDC used to settle ABN AMRO digital commercial paper on DLT (Ledger Insights)
ABN AMRO and Rabobank issued €1.1 million of one-month digital commercial paper tokenized on the Deutsche Börse Clearstream D7 distributed ledger technology (DLT) based platform. The Luxembourg transaction was settled atomically using a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the Banque de France, as part of the Eurosystem’s DLT trials for wholesale settlement using central bank money. This is Clearstream‘s 5th use case at the European Central Bank (ECB) trials on the D7 platform. [Read more at Ledger Insights]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
- Digital Euro Conference 2025, Frankfurt, March 27, 2025. The DEC25 conference will explore the future of money with a focus on CBDCs, stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and the intersection of AI and digital ID. When you register, get 20% off the regular ticket price by using the Kiffmeister20 code! [Find out more and register here]
And 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 john@kiffmeister.com.
