Month: March 2025

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20250329)

~ kiffmeister

BCB report on Drex proof-of-concept project Phase 1 (BCB)(Updated with correct link)

Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) published a report on the main developments in the first phase of its Drex central bank digital currency (CBDC) proof-of-concept work, which took place between July 2023 and October 2024. (None of the Drex tests involved real clients or assets, but rather fictitious ones.) The report highlighted the trilemma of finding a solution that balances decentralization, programmability, and privacy issues at the same time, while being compliant to the Brazilian legal framework. I’m still digesting a Google Translate version (it’s only available in Portuguese) of the 73-page report, and may come back with more detail later. [Read more at the BCB]

FDIC Reverses U.S. Crypto Banking Policy That Demanded Prior Approvals (CoinDesk)

The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) will no longer instruct banks to get prior sign-off before they engage in crypto-related activities — a standard that was set in 2022 that effectively blocked FDIC-supervised institutions from engaging in such activities as they waited for approvals that never came. Earlier in March 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) rescinded its similar 2022 guidance. [Read more at the FDIC and OCC]

Interoperability of blockchain systems and the future of payments (NY Fed)

The New York Fed published research that provides empirical evidence of limited interoperability in crypto-asset markets. It examined the price relation between native and bridged USDC and USDT stablecoins on multiple blockchains and bridges. Stablecoins are good candidates for studying interoperability because they are nonspeculative by design (each is intended to represent $1), and in principle, a bridged representation of an asset represents value that is identical to the original asset. A higher degree of interoperability in blockchain systems would allow traders to compress any divergence in prices between stablecoins and their bridged representations and push the correlation between the prices of two stablecoins closer to one. However, it found surprisingly high price variation across all of them, suggesting limited interoperability. [Read more at the NY Fed]

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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20250328)(Updated)

~ kiffmeister

BCB report on Drex proof-of-concept project Phase 1 (BCB)

Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) published a report on the main developments in the first phase of its Drex central bank digital currency (CBDC) proof-of-concept work, which took place between July 2023 and October 2024. (None of the Drex tests involved real clients or assets, but rather fictitious ones.) The report highlighted the trilemma of finding a solution that balances decentralization, programmability, and privacy issues at the same time, while being compliant to the Brazilian legal framework. I’m still digesting a Google Translate version (it’s only available in Portuguese) of the 73-page report, and may come back with more detail later. [Read more at the BCB]

UAE Central Bank Reveals Digital Dirham Symbol, Targets Late 2025 Launch (Bitcoin.com)

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) unveiled the official symbol for its blockchain-based Digital Dirham central bank digital currency (CBDC). Issuance is expected to take place in the last quarter of 2025 for retail sector. The Digital Dirham, underpinned by Federal Decree-Law No. (54) of 2023, is set to become a legal tender, ensuring its acceptance across all payment outlets and channels alongside physical currency. According to R3, Corda will serve as the underlying infrastructure for cross-border payments implementation. Read more at the CBUAE]

And so we pay: more digital and faster, with cash still in play (BIS)

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Committee on Payment and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) published a brief that highlights key retail payment trends based on 2023 data collected from member jurisdictions. It demonstrates that the use, or volume, of cashless payment methods continued to grow in 2023 and that consumers increasingly choose to pay digitally for small value transactions. Although broad based, the growth in cashless payments was especially strong in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), driven by a sharp increase in the use of credit transfers (mostly fast payments) and e-money. It also finds that the uptake of fast payments is generally higher in jurisdictions with lower levels of cash in circulation and wider use of payment cards, especially for small payments. However, the demand for cash withdrawals generally remained stable versus previous years. [Read more at the BIS]

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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20250327)

~ kiffmeister

Wyoming State to issue its own stablecoin by July 2025 (Bloomberg)

The U.S. State of Wyoming plans launch its own U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin as soon as July 2025. The WYST token will be fully backed by US Treasuries, cash and repurchase agreements, and maintain a statutory requirement of no less than 102% capitalization. The income generated through interest income on the reserve assets will be used to fund education and infrastructure. They have been tested on Avalanche, Solana, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and Base testnets. in collaboration with token issuance partner LayerZero. [Read more at the Wyoming government]

The effect of instant payments on the banking system (BCB)

A paper published by Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) shows that instant payments (IPSs) may have the unintended consequences of increasing the banking sector’s demand for liquidity. Using banking data and transaction-level payment data from Brazil’s Pix instant payment systems, it finds that banks increased their liquid asset holdings after the adoption of instant payments. These findings arise because the convenience of instant payments to consumers comes at the expense of banks’ ability to delay and net payment flows. The inability to delay payments increases banks’ demand for holding liquid assets over transforming illiquid ones. [Read more at the BCB]

Senator Cruz introduces companion bill to prohibit the Fed from issuing a CBDC (Coin Telegraph)

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz introduced a bill on March 26, 2025 to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). The “Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act,” would prohibit the Fed from offering certain products or services directly to American individuals, a key component of any retail CBDC. The Texas Republican’s bill is similarly worded to the bill introduced by Representative Tom Emmer to the House of Representatives on March 6. [Read more on Ted Cruz’s website]

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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20250326)

~ kiffmeister

Ripple to get $75M of court-ordered fine back from SEC, drops cross-appeal (Coin Desk)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will return $75 million of the $125 million-court ordered fine paid by Ripple last year. The proposed settlement, subject to commissioner and court approval, comes a week after the SEC agreed to drop its appeal of U.S. District Court judge Analisa Torres’ 2023 ruling that Ripple’s programmatic sales of XRP to retail exchanges did not violate federal securities laws. Torres found that only Ripple’s institutional sales violated securities laws, ordering Ripple to pay the $125 million fine. The fine was less than the nearly $2 billion in civil penalties, disgorgement and prejudgement interest the SEC initially requested, and the SEC had filed an appeal, and Ripple filed a cross ppeal of the SEC’s appeal. As part of the pending settlement agreement, the SEC will drop its appeal and ask the court to lift the standard injunction imposed against Ripple, and Ripple will drop its cross-appeal [Read more on X]

Are CBDC projects moving forward without public buy-In? (Finextra)

The Warwick University Business School (WBS) Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology published its response the Bank of England’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) consultation. One of its main points was that, even with a strong policy case, a digital pound will only fulfill its purpose if people adopt it. In the United Kingdom, relatively strong retail payments landscape would present a challenge in this regard. However, two particular pain points suggest a pathway to adoption; merchant frustration over high card payment costs and lack of alternatives, and clunky person-to-person (P2P) payments. A digital pound is not the only solution here, but perhaps these concerns suggest a pathway to adoption. However, most consumers don’t directly bear payment costs (merchants) and prices typically remain the same regardless of the payment method, so there’s little direct incentive for users to switch, complicating adoption. And anxieties around CBDC privacy are ironic in the context of widespread reliance on payment systems that are not private, but maybe a CBDC with cash-like attributes could carve out a unique niche. [Read more at the WBS]

Custodia Bank partners Vantage for first US bank ‘stablecoin’ issuance (Ledger Insights)

Custodia Bank has partnered with Texas community bank Vantage to mint, transfer and redeem a deposit token on the Ethereum blockchain. The reason for using quotes around the term “stablecoin” is because deposit tokens on a permissionless blockchain appear similar to stablecoins, but if they are purely backed by deposits and issued by a bank, then economically and legally they are different – they’re bank deposits using a different technology. That’s why the stablecoin bills progressing through Congress exclude bank-issued crypto-assets backed by deposits. [Read more on X]

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

  • The Digital Euro Conference 2025 (Frankfurt, March 27) 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! [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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20250324)

~ kiffmeister

The concept of “digital fiat currency” (DFC) has started to catch on as a catch-all for digital currencies that are based on fiat currencies, including central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and various other forms of electronic money. The term “DFC” goes back to a series of reports by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) between 2017 and 2019, the meaning of which was best articulated in a 2019 technical report:

Digital fiat currency (DFC) is a tokenized, digital representation of a sovereign currency issued by an authorized public or private entity. When issued and distributed by a central bank or other monetary authority, it is a central bank digital currency (CBDC). If it is issued by a private entity, it may be e-money or another form of digital commercial bank money/private digital tokens/stablecoins, even if backed by central bank money.

[Source: ITU. 2019. “Digital Currency Including Digital Fiat Currency Reference Architecture and Use Cases Report,” ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector Focus Group Digital Currency Including Digital Fiat Currency Technical Report.]

IMF Global Standards for Macroeconomic Statistics now include crypto-assets (IMF)

The IMF now recognizes crypto-assets in its Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual. It divides cryptos into fungible and non-fungible tokens. Cryptos without backing liabilities are treated as non-produced nonfinancial assets under the capital account, which means cross-border transactions involving them will be tracked as acquisitions or disposals of non-produced assets. Stablecoins and other cryptos backed by liabilities are considered financial instruments. Platform-based cryptos, such as Ethereum and Solana, may be classified as equity-like instruments, reflecting ownership rights similar to traditional equities. The manual also addresses staking and crypto yield activities, which are to be treated as sources of income akin to dividends, depending on the holder’s intent and scale of holdings. Additionally, services related to crypto mining and staking are now recognized as exportable computer services, aligning with broader trends in the digital economy. [Read more at the IMF]

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

  • The Crypto Assets Conference (Frankfurt, March 26) will delve into the advancements in digital assets, tokenization, crypto assets, web3, and more, through insightful talks, interactive debates, and presentations by industry experts, founders, investors, and representatives from public institutions. [Register here and get a 10% discount]
  • The Digital Euro Conference 2025 (Frankfurt, March 27) 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! [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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20250321)

~ kiffmeister

SEC says certain proof of work crypto mining is not a security (Ledger Insights)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a note saying that solo and pooled mining for proof of work blockchains will generally not be considered to involve securities. The crux of the argument is that in both cases the expectation of profit is based on the efforts of the miner, not of others. The Howey securities test requires the expectation of profit based on the efforts of third parties. Solo mining involves a miner mining covered crypto-assets using their own computational resources, working alone or together with others to operate a node and mine. Mining pools involves miners combining their computational resources with other miners to increase their chances of successfully validating transactions and mining new blocks on the network. Reward payments may flow from the network directly to the miners or indirectly to them through the pool operator. [Read more at the SEC]

US Treasury Lifts Sanctions Against Ethereum Mixer Tornado Cash (Decrypt)

On March 21, 2025, the U.S. Treasury delisted Ethereum coin mixing service Tornado Cash from its list of parties sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) reversing course after first blacklisting the service in 2022. The removal was actually a bit tardy because the Treasury had been required to remove it by March 17, 2025. In November, a fifth circuit judge ruled that the Treasury had overstepped its authority by targeting Tornado Cash’s smart contracts. The judge wrote that autonomous software cannot be classified as property and therefore cannot be sanctioned. Subsequently, Department of Justice prosecutors asked for and given until March 17, 2025 to remove Tornado Cash from the OFAC black list. [Read more at Decrypt]

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

  • The Crypto Assets Conference (Frankfurt, March 26) will delve into the advancements in digital assets, tokenization, crypto assets, web3, and more, through insightful talks, interactive debates, and presentations by industry experts, founders, investors, and representatives from public institutions. [Register here and get a 10% discount]
  • The Digital Euro Conference 2025 (Frankfurt, March 27) 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! [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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20250320)

~ kiffmeister

Update on the Bank of Israel digital shekel project (Davar HaYom)

The Bank of Israel’s Yoav Soffer provided an update on the digital shekel project, which he leads, in a couple of local media outlets. The project team want to finalize the plan by the end of 2026, after which they will present it to the Governor, who will decide whether to launch the digital shekel. The current thinking is that it would provide for an offline payment wallet by which it will be possible to set a certain amount in advance to be held by phone or prepaid card that can be used to make payments when there is no internet connection. It will also allow for anonymous payments up to a certain amount, both offline and online, in a way that will not even be accessible to payment service providers. The project team is also considering allowing the digital shekel to bear interest, which will create an incentive for banks to offer better interest rates on deposits, and push Bank of Israel policy rate changes out to the economy faster and more efficiently. [Read more in Davar HaYom and also Makor Rishon]

Wholesale, retail and multi-purpose digital shekel proposal (LinkedIn)

In a LinkedIn post, Yoav also discusses how the long-run plan for a prospective digital shekel would blur the distinction between retail and wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC). Box 2 in the design paper published on March 3, 2025 rejects the notion that wholesale use cases (and users) and retail use cases (and users) cannot be served by one system. The proposed design offers the concept of a “multipurpose CBDC” – one reservoir of digital central bank money, available for all users and use cases in the economy – of course, with the adequate controls, risk management measures, and regulatory requirements attached to each type of user. [Read more on LinkedIn]

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

  • The Crypto Assets Conference (Frankfurt, March 26) will delve into the advancements in digital assets, tokenization, crypto assets, web3, and more, through insightful talks, interactive debates, and presentations by industry experts, founders, investors, and representatives from public institutions. [Register here and get a 10% discount]
  • The Digital Euro Conference 2025 (Frankfurt, March 27) 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! [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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20250319)

~ kiffmeister

SEC will drop its appeal against Ripple, CEO Garlinghouse says (Coin Telegraph)

Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will drop its appeal in the lawsuit it’s been pursuing against the firm for the past four years. The SEC sued the company over an alleged $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering in December 2020. In 2023 Federal district judge Analisa Torres ruled that programmatic sales to public buyers and distributions of XRP to Ripple Labs employees did not constitute the sale of unregistered securities. However, she concluded that Ripple’s institutional sales of XRP constituted the unregistered offer and sale of investment contracts in violation of Section 5 of the Securities Act. In August 2024 she ordered Ripple to pay a $125 million fine which was significantly less than the $2 billion sought by the SEC. Hence, in October 2024 SEC filed a notice of appeal that has been hanging over Ripple’s head until possibly now. In any case, it may take several weeks for the case to be officially withdrawn because any decision will have to be subject to Commission vote and approval. [Read more on X]

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

  • The Crypto Assets Conference (Frankfurt, March 26) will delve into the advancements in digital assets, tokenization, crypto assets, web3, and more, through insightful talks, interactive debates, and presentations by industry experts, founders, investors, and representatives from public institutions. [Register here and get a 10% discount]
  • The Digital Euro Conference 2025 (Frankfurt, March 27) 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! [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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20250318)

~ kiffmeister

Bank of Korea to Begin CBDC Pilot in April (BusinessKorea)

The Bank of Korea (BOK) will reportedly launch its wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot next month. Participants will be able to convert their bank deposits into tokenized deposits and use them for payments at affiliated merchants. The purpose of the distributed ledger technology (DLT) based wholesale CBDC is to settle the tokenized deposit transactions across the seven participating banks. Currently, interbank transfers are settled via transfers across banks’ BOK reserve accounts. To recruit approximately 100,000 pilot participants for the experiment, the BOK reportedly plans to issue a public announcement by the end of this month. [Read more at BusinessKorea]

UK government launches procurement for digital gilts (Ledger Insights)

The U.K Chancellor of the Exchequer announced details of the launch of the procurement process for the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) issuance pilot. HM Treasury has published additional information, engagement questions and has issued a Preliminary Market Engagement notice through its contract finder service. The short-dated gilts will be issued outside the government’s conventional debt issuance program, and will not be issued by the Debt Management Office. Given the gilt will be hosted on a platform that’s part of the Digital Securities Sandbox, the platform will first need approval from the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority that are jointly operating the Sandbox. [Read more at the U.K. government website]

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

  • The Crypto Assets Conference (Frankfurt, March 26) will delve into the advancements in digital assets, tokenization, crypto assets, web3, and more, through insightful talks, interactive debates, and presentations by industry experts, founders, investors, and representatives from public institutions. [Register here and get a 10% discount]
  • The Digital Euro Conference 2025 (Frankfurt, March 27) 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! [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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20250315)

~ kiffmeister

Private Law Aspects of Token-Based Central Bank Digital Currencies (IMF)

The IMF published a paper that presents a practical legal-analytical framework to assess how private law rules can be designed to support the wide circulation and safe holding of token-based central bank digital currency (CBDC) primarily intended for retail use. It follows a previous IMF working paper that examined the legal foundations of CBDC under central bank law and its treatment under monetary law—the main public law aspects of CBDC. A private law framework is also needed, because unlike account-based CBDC, token-based CBDC constitutes from the legal perspective a new form of money and hence raises a lot of challenges under private law. This legal nature will shape how token-based CBDC can be transferred, held in custody, “deposited” with commercial banks, and pledged. It is also be crucial that private law rules establish with certainty how ownership and other rights in token-based CBDC can be transferred between economic agents. In most jurisdictions, the private law regime for token-based CBDC will likely need to be augmented by a comprehensive legislative intervention to provide a sufficiently robust and predictable legal foundation for this new digital currency. In designing such a legislative framework, countries will need to consider carefully whether to anchor it in a broader framework for digital money or assets. [Read more at the IMF]

The paper defines “token-based” CBDC as “(a) a form of money; (b) issued by a central bank and thus expressed in the official monetary unit; (c) where the monetary claim on the central bank is incorporated in a digital token (in its various possible technological forms); and (d) the transfer of the token equates to the transfer of the claim, (e) without a current-account relationship between the central bank and the holder. In principle, this does not preclude that technologically there are instructions to, and actions by, the issuing central bank (or even an intermediary), for instance in the context of a permissioned ledger. But legally, the token-based CBDC would be transferred between holders without legal intervention (for example, in the form of a debit instruction) of the central bank.”

“Complicating matters is the fact that a token-based CBDC could be held “indirectly” through wallets whereby holders own and transfer their CBDC through financial intermediaries but still retain a direct monetary claim on the central bank. This means that understanding the triangular relationship between the central bank, wallet provider and a CBDC holder will be central to comprehending the full legal ramifications, including risks, of the holding structure of token-based CBDC. In this respect, an important issue will be to ensure that the holder maintains at all times a direct claim on
the central bank.”

“An “account-based” CBDC would be a form of money whose value is recorded in the form of digital representations of credit balances on current accounts held in a central bank’s books. (1) Those credit balances can basically be constituted in three ways: (i) “deposits” of banknotes and coins; (ii) transfers from other current accounts, and (iii) crediting by the central bank. Transfers between current accounts are effected through debits and credits of these accounts. In other words, account-based CBDC would deploy conventional banking techniques. Current accounts represent a contractual legal relationship between the central bank and the account holder. By consequence, the rights and obligations of the parties are mainly provided by the contractual terms and conditions., and the legal parameters of currents accounts are well developed and understood.”

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

  • The Crypto Assets Conference (Frankfurt, March 26) will delve into the advancements in digital assets, tokenization, crypto assets, web3, and more, through insightful talks, interactive debates, and presentations by industry experts, founders, investors, and representatives from public institutions. [Register here and get a 10% discount]
  • The Digital Euro Conference 2025 (Frankfurt, March 27) 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! [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.