Central Bank of Colombia wholesale CBDC proof-of-concept (BIS)

Colombia’s Banco de la República (BanRep) is exploring the use of a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) in a tokenized financial market based on distributed ledger technology (DLT). As part of this agenda, BanRep, in collaboration with the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, Ripple and Peersyst, is conducting a proof-of-concept (POS) experiment to issue wholesale CBDC and tokenized securities. This involves building a scalable blockchain prototype in a test environment with simulated participants. The experiment evaluates efficiencies in delivery versus s payment (DVP) for primary issuance and in the clearing and settlement of transactions in the secondary market, as well as direct CBDC transfers between the wallets of financial entities on the blockchain. [Read more at the BIS]

China links CBDC payments to 10 ASEAN, 6 Middle eastern countries (Proshare)

According to Nigerian news outlet Proshare, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has announced that its digital RMB cross-border settlement system will be fully connected to the ten ASEAN nations and six Middle Eastern countries. Needless to say, the crypto press took the ball and ran with it, some even saying that the full-scale launch had taken place on exactly March 17, 2025. However, even though it is prospectively plausible, it is likely fake news based on cobbling together recent disparate true stories, like those around the ongoing mBridge proof-of-concept project. [See the original Proshare story here, Ledger Insight’s analysis here, and Rosa Giovanna Barresi’s 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.