Design Note – Offline Payments (Bank of England)
The Bank of England (BOE) published a note that outlines its current thinking on offline payments for a potential digital pound, distinguishing between “deferred offline payments” (similar to card transactions where payment is queued until a party reconnects online) and “device offline payments” (where value moves directly between devices out of online system view, like cash transfers). The note emphasizes the established use cases for deferred offline payments (e.g., transit, vending machines) and acknowledges future opportunities and resilience benefits for device offline payments, though risks and technical maturity mean such device-to-device features would not be available at launch. [Source: BOE]
India Introduces Digital Rupee for Easy Offline Payments (The CSR Journal)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reportedly launched the offline digital rupee CBDC during the Global Fintech Fest 2025 in Mumbai. It would offer direct wallet-to-wallet transfers, benefiting remote areas and those without banking access. Users will be able to download wallets from 15 major banks. The wallets will offer secure recovery options in case of lost devices, alongside transaction limits set at Rs 50,000 per day or 20 transactions, with wallet balances capped at Rs 1 lakh. Key features will include programmable money (restricting usage by location, time, or purpose), and support for government welfare and corporate payments. [Source: CSR Journal]
Coincidentally, the RBI officially launched its “HaRBInger 2025 – Innovation for Transformation” hackathon, which features as one of the three focus areas, offline central bank digital currency (CBDC). Participants are invited to design a secure, user-friendly, tamper-resistant, and scalable solution for enabling offline digital rupee transactions. The solution should allow consecutive offline payments without real-time internet or telecom connectivity and ensuring double-spend prevention. It should work on low-cost devices and be agnostic across devices and communication protocols, and work on different form factors. [Source: RBI]
Bank-Issued Stablecoins in Europe Under MiCA Regulation (Blockstories)
Blockstories’s Louis Tellier highlighted three key insights about the stablecoin business in Europe under MiCA regulation. First, banks issuing stablecoins are not required to maintain segregated reserves, allowing them to integrate stablecoin assets within their balance sheets and partially lend them under a fractional-reserve model, which provides banks a unique competitive edge over electronic money institutions (EMIs) like Circle that must maintain fully backed, segregated reserves. Second, despite MiCA’s prohibition on yield distribution for stablecoins, some platforms have enabled yield via DeFi integrations through non-custodial wallets—taking advantage of a regulatory “DeFi exemption” that falls outside MiCA’s scope; recent examples include Bitpanda and Deblock using protocols like Morpho. Lastly, deploying bank-issued stablecoins in DeFi is now feasible, with regulations clarifying that issuers need not know the identity of every holder at all times, as long as compliance features such as blacklists and token freezing are embedded in smart contracts, demonstrated by Société Générale and ODDO BHF. [Source: LinkedIn]
Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance and Central Bank to Study Stablecoin Adoption (Business Day Nigeria)
Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance and central bank have reportedly established a working group to examine the adoption of stablecoins as part of its financial sector innovation agenda. They aim to explore the broader implications of integrating stablecoins, balancing support for technological innovation with the need to mitigate associated risks. This is all against the backdrop of the underwhelming response to the e-Naira CBDC. [Source: Business Day Nigeria]
Bank Negara Malaysia to Complete Domestic Wholesale CBDC Proof-of-Concept by End-2025 (MOF)
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is reportedly expected to complete its proof-of-concept for a domestic wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) by the end of 2025. This initiative seeks to evaluate the potential use of CBDC within Malaysia’s wholesale payment system, especially focusing on the real-time electronic transfer of funds and securities system (Rentas), and to improve the understanding of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and CBDC for both BNM and the broader financial sector. Additionally, BNM is actively participating in several Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub-led projects—such as Project Dunbar, Project Mandala, and Project Rialto—which explore how multi-CBDC arrangements can make cross-border wholesale payments more efficient, faster, and secure. [Source: The Edge Malaysia]
Ethiopia’s Parliament Passes CBDC-Enabling Legislation (NBE)
[February 4, 2025] The Ethiopian Parliament passed into law National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) Proclamation No. 1359/2025, establishing a legal framework for the introduction of a digital birr central bank digital currency (CBDC). It permits the central bank’s Board to issue a Directive to issue CBDC as legal tender of the country. [Source: NBE]
Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
Stablecoin C-Suite Summit (New York City on November 14-15) will be the definitive conference for exploring the future of digital money and intelligent payments. The event brings together founders, C-level executives, investors, policymakers, and developers for two immersive days of talks, panels, and networking. This be the place to be if you’re building, backing, or regulating the next wave of programmable finance. [Register here]
The Digital Euro Conference 2026 (Frankfurt, March 26) will explore the future of money with a focus on CBDCs, stablecoins, and commercial bank tokens. This hybrid event offers the perfect platform to understand the future of digital money! When you register, get 20% off the regular ticket price by using the Kiffmeister20 code! [register here]
I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
