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]
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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.
