Day: March 6, 2025

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20250306)

~ kiffmeister

Student Safe: the Magyar Nemzeti Bank’s retail CBDC pilot project (MNB)

Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) published a white paper on its Student Safe central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project, which was launched in May 2023 and phased out in February 2025. The aim was to create a CBDC environment that is not only secure and regulated, but also flexible and user-friendly. The Student Safe offered free of charge and secure digital payment solutions to support the financial inclusion of 8-14 year olds. It provided users with the opportunity to learn the theory and practice of digital finance basics through a combination of quizzes and mobile banking functions. Going forward, the MNB will examine possible motivations and emerging use cases that could be relevant to the Student Safe user base or to another group of consumers. [Read more at the MNB]

Hungary’s central bank organizes DLT for mortgage insurance (Ledger Insights)

The MNB, working with eight Hungarian banks and eleven insurers, developed a distributed ledger technology (DLT) based home insurance scheme, to coordinate data sharing about mortgage insurance policies. The paperless and transparent data transfer will reduce administrative work and reconciliations. Data sharing will be General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant, so the homeowners will have to provide consent, and only the insurer and the bank will have the right to see the data, and not the central bank. [Read more at the MNB]

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.

Jurisdictions Where Retail CBDC Is Being Explored (February 2025)

~ kiffmeister

105 central banks have recently launched, piloted, experimented with and/or researched retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) not including two that started issuing retail CBDC and then shut the platforms down (Ecuador and Finland). This total is unchanged since the end of September 2024. Keep in mind that I don’t count all of the individual national central banks that are part of currency unions (e.g., the European or Eastern Caribbean Currency Unions). If I did the tally that way, my count would be around the oft-quoted 130+ central banks. Also, the table was compiled from publicly available sources, including the media and central bank websites, and not verified through official channels. If I’m missing anything, or you find mistakes in the tabulation, please let me know in the comments!

Notes: The difference between a “pilot” and “proof of concept” (POC) is that a pilot involves actual users, whereas a POC does not, even though some POCs may involve central bank staff. Also, because the tabulation is based only on publicly-available information, it is likely that there is some POC activity in the “research” category, but no announcements have been made. Finally, entries that are crossed through indicate that the projects have been shut down. Also, the ones that are crossed out, are where the central bank has considered issuing CBDC but then decided to cancel the research or put it on hold (“watchful waiting”).

February RCBDC TabulationDownload