Category: CBDC

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260714)

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ECB Selects 36 PSPs to Join Digital Euro Pilot (ECB)

The European Central Bank (ECB) has selected 36 payment service providers (PSPs) from across the euro area to run a 12‑month digital euro pilot starting in the second half of 2027, using a beta version aligned with draft legislation but without legal‑tender status. The exercise, hosted at the ECB and 19 national central banks, will test front‑end functionality, operational processes, and user experience for person‑to‑person and person‑to‑business payments, both online and offline, including point‑of‑sale and e‑commerce use cases. Participating banks and non‑banks will act as distributors and acquirers for staff and selected merchants, effectively piloting the prospective intermediated distribution model. The move signals continued progress toward possible issuance while leaving fundamental policy decisions on legal tender status and full‑scale rollout explicitly unresolved. [ECB]

BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.

FYI 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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260712)

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U.S. Retail CBDC Ban Passed into Law Without Trump’s Signature (Congress.gov)

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a U.S. bipartisan housing law, that incidentally statutorily prohibits the Federal Reserve from issuing or creating a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) (or “any digital asset that is substantially similar to a retail CBDC directly or indirectly through a financial institution or other intermediary”) until December 31, 2030, becoming law via constitutional default after President Trump neither signed nor vetoed the bill to protest Congressional inaction on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE Act) that would require documented proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in U.S. federal elections. The CBDC prohibition is carefully worded to focus on retail CBDC (“widely available to the general public”) and will not “prohibit any dollar-denominated currency that is open, permissionless, and private, and fully preserves the privacy protections of U.S. coins and physical currency”. [Congress.gov]

BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.

FYI 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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260711)

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EIB Issues First DLT-native Commercial Paper on Clearstream’s D7 Platform (Clearstream)

Clearstream’s D7 distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform hosted the European Investment Bank’s (EIB’s) first natively tokenized, euro‑denominated commercial paper issuance, following recent European Central Bank (ECB) collateral eligibility decisions and within Central Securities Depositories Regulation‑compliant infrastructure. The EUR 77.5 million, 10‑day instrument was distributed into the international Eurobond market and then mobilized as Eurosystem‑eligible collateral via Clearstream’s triparty collateral management and the Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS) for refinancing with the Bundesbank, demonstrating end‑to‑end connectivity from primary issuance to central bank credit operations. This operationalizes tokenized short‑term securities as usable central bank collateral, advancing the practical integration of DLT into regulated European capital markets, while leaving open broader questions on scalability, interoperability across collateral pools, and long‑term treatment of DLT‑native assets in monetary and prudential frameworks. [Clearstream]

Bitcoin Market Segmentation and Regulatory Effect (BdF)

A Banque de France (BdF) working paper by Mathilde Dufouleur argues that effective, well‑designed national crypto regulation reduces Bitcoin price segmentation across jurisdictions by strengthening convergence to the U.S. dollar benchmark, with important compositional effects across regulatory types. Using a database of implemented measures in 28 countries since 2009, matched to local Bitcoin prices in 22 currencies from 2013–2024, the paper shows that the Law of One Price fails, but that higher regulatory intensity generally narrows cross‑country price gaps via lower local prices and greater integration. Reliability‑oriented frameworks—extensions of securities, banking and payment laws, regulatory sandboxes, and legalization of crypto‑related investments—are associated with both improved price convergence and, in many cases, higher local prices, whereas partial bans targeting financial institutions increase deviations and isolate markets. Financial integrity regulation lowers local prices, consistent with a meaningful share of illicit or anonymity‑driven demand, but has mixed effects on deviations, leaving open the question of how far compliance regimes alone can integrate crypto markets without broader financial‑sector participation. [BdF]

BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.

FYI 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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260707)

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The Shift in China’s CBDC (Digital Yuan) Policy and Key Implications (JRI)

Japan Research Institute (JRI) published a paper that analyzes China’s decision in late 2025 to shift the digital yuan (e‑CNY) from a non‑interest‑bearing central bank digital currency (CBDC) to an interest‑bearing commercial bank liability integrated into reserve requirements and deposit insurance (i.e., functionally a tokenized deposit). It argues this redesign aims to align bank balance‑sheet incentives, move usage toward corporate and cross‑border payments, and better plug into the mBridge cross‑border infrastructure as part of a strategy to deepen renminbi‑denominated settlement outside the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system. Unresolved issues include whether this deposit‑based model can achieve scale amid entrenched super‑app payments, opaque mBridge usage, and continued constraints on non‑official digital currencies in China. [JRI]

Blockchain Consensus Mechanisms and Fragmentation (BIS)

The BIS published a paper by Eidan, Frost, Kansal, Lewrick, Lim and Rybarczyk that argues permissionless blockchains are structurally driven toward fragmented, specialized infrastructures rather than a unified financial market infrastructure, in the context of rising crypto and stablecoin use. The paper links heterogenous consensus mechanisms and token incentive structures to distinct equilibria across layer 1 and layer 2 networks, which fragment liquidity horizontally and vertically. It shows that mitigation tools—bridges, native multi‑chain issuance, shared middleware and interoperability protocols—reduce frictions but recreate concentrated trust, governance and operational nodes. A key unresolved issue is how to design standards and regulatory perimeters that reduce fragmentation while preserving competition and cross‑border interoperability. [BIS]

A Money View of Offline Payment Functionality (SSRN)

G+D’s Lars Hupel has updated his “money view” offline payments paper, arguing that offline-capable retail payment systems should use a single issuer, not multiple bank issuers, in the context of CBDC and fast payment system design. The paper compares central bank CBDC, a multi-issuer commercial bank token model, and a single-issuer model for offline value transfer; it finds that multi-issuer offline tokens create foreign-liability, fungibility, and counterparty-risk problems, while a single-issuer structure more closely preserves cash-like bearer behavior. The policy significance is that offline functionality can be built without a central bank-issued instrument, but only if issuance, prefunding, settlement access, and anti-money-laundering controls are centralized enough to preserve finality and risk management. [SSRN]

BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.

FYI 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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260706)

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ECB Publishes New Version of Digital Euro Scheme Rulebook (ECB)

The European Central Bank (ECB) published version 0.91 of the digital euro scheme rulebook. Its purpose is to provide a single set of measures, rules, and standards for the provision of digital euro payment services, and ensure a standardized digital euro payment experience across all Member States, irrespective of the country or the payment service providers (PSPs) used. It leverages, to the extent possible, on existing industry standards and procedures to improve interoperability and promote harmonization within the European payments infrastructure. [ECB]

See also the sixth update on the work of the digital euro scheme’s Rulebook Development Group.

Engaging with Privacy Stablecoins: A Framework for Scalable and KYC/AML-Compliant Adoption (BoI)

The Bank of Italy (BoI) Financial Intelligence Unit published a paper that examines the potential of privacy-preserving stablecoins (“privacy stablecoins”) as retail payment instruments. It argues that stablecoins currently operating on public Layer-1 blockchains face structural limitations in terms of scalability, regulatory compliance, and privacy protection. Privacy-enhancing Layer-2 architectures may help overcome these constraints by combining greater operational efficiency with mechanisms that reconcile user confidentiality and regulatory oversight. The paper proposes a framework that relies on rollup‑based Layer‑2 designs with validity‑proof systems, data‑availability guarantees, and rule‑based selective disclosure to reconcile privacy with auditable reserves and enforceable financial integrity. [BoI]

BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.

FYI 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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260704)

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Bank of Russia Announces Banks’ Readiness for Digital Ruble Widespread Use (Tass)

Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina reported that banks and major retailers are technically ready to support broad use of the digital ruble central bank digital currency (CBDC). Preparatory work has focused on integrating systemically important banks and large merchants into the acceptance infrastructure and on developing functionality such as smart contracts and the option to host digital ruble wallets on commercial bank balance sheets rather than solely on the central bank balance sheet. Major banks will be required to allow their clients to transact with digital rubles starting on September 1, 2026. [Tass]

BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.

FYI 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.

Jurisdictions Where Retail CBDC Is Being Explored

~ kiffmeister

I’ve updated my tabulation of the central banks that have launched, piloted, experimented with and/or researched retail central bank digital currency (CBDC)(see below). The table was compiled from publicly available sources, including 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!

According to my count, 115 central banks have launched retail CBDC explorations based on publicly-available information. It doesn’t include the two that started issuing retail CBDC and then shut the platforms down (Ecuador and Finland). Four jurisdictions have seen full launches (Bahamas, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Nigeria), 13 pilot launches (where the central bank is/was issuing real CBDC to a limited subset of external users), 23 have seen proof-of-concept work started, and 75 started and remain in the pure research phase. These are less than the numbers published by the Atlantic Council, because they count individual countries in currency zones (e.g., Eurozone). BTW for those who want a more historical view of CBDC developments I strongly recommend the CBDCTracker.org database.

The table below also indicates in green which 29 projects are truly “live” where “live” is defined as those that are currently in active launch (3), pilot (5) or proof-of-concept (8) phases, plus others that have published research updates during the last 12 months (13).

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, or put on hold (“watchful waiting”).

BTW 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.

Jurisdictions Where Retail CBDC Is Being ExploredDownload

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260701)

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Project Agila: Results, Technical Findings and Policy Implications (BSP)

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) published a paper that concludes a wholesale central bank digital currency (WCBDC) on Hyperledger Fabric is technically feasible for 24/7 interbank settlement and could serve as a conditional back-up to PhilPaSS Plus, subject to major design, risk, and legal work. The two-phase Project Agila sandbox showed Oracle’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform can support full WCBDC lifecycle operations, programmable payments and high volumes, but with clear constraints around transaction finality, access controls, cybersecurity, and scalability at larger loads. The report frames WCBDC as reserves-on-ledger and potential high-quality liquid asset, analyzes implications under the National Payment Systems Act and BSP Charter, and identifies systemically important payment system treatment, access, holding limits, and charter changes as key policy questions. It recommends focusing next on tokenized securities settlement and institutional cross-border use cases while hardening governance, IT risk, and integration with existing financial market infrastructures (FMIs). [BSP]

Stablecoins and Anonymous Money (BIS)

Gita Gopinath argues that global stablecoin usage is structurally evolving toward maximum pseudonymity, in tension with decades of policy that pushed traditional money toward transparency. Empirically, most United States dollar‑pegged stablecoins (Tether and USD Coin) are held in self‑custody wallets and increasingly transferred wallet‑to‑wallet, with regulated exchanges and issuers involved in a shrinking share of flows, even on the most identifiable chains. This pattern undermines tax collection, financial‑crime controls, capital controls, and sanctions that depend on residence and identity information, while exploiting lighter compliance burdens relative to banks. Existing United States and European frameworks focus on issuers and centralized exchanges, leaving self‑custody and offshore activity largely outside ex ante monitoring, raising unresolved questions on how far regulation should extend into wallet‑level and cross‑border infrastructure. [BIS]

BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.

FYI 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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260624)

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Digital Euro: MEPs Want to Ensure Sovereignty, Privacy and Financial Stability (European Parliament)

The European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee adopted its negotiating position on the digital euro by 43 votes to 14, part of a three-file single currency package. The digital euro would be account-based online and local-storage offline, with privacy-by-design using zero-knowledge proofs and no European Central Bank (ECB) access to personal identification data; basic services and offline payments would be fee-free; most merchants required to accept it. European Commission-set individual holding limits, calibrated on ECB recommendations and reviewed biennially, protect financial stability; businesses may accumulate incoming digital euro payments for up to 24 hours only; no interest accrues. The ECB must complete a rulebook, infrastructure, and pilots before a minimum 24-month rollout. A companion file allows non-euro EU member state payment service providers to distribute the digital euro under the same rules; a third file reinforces cash as legal tender and prohibits merchants from refusing it. Council negotiations on all three files are the next legislative step. [European Parliament]

Digital Pound Lab: Phase 2 Update (BoE)

The Bank of England (BoE) published a Phase 2 interim update for its Digital Pound Lab, developed with Accenture, ahead of the phase’s July 2026 conclusion. BoE-developed use cases demonstrated include one-time aliases for privacy-preserving payments, confirmation of payee, group “kitty” payments using conditional locks, external service interface provider connections enabling third-party app integration, allowances extended to e-commerce, and usage-based streaming micropayments. Twelve private sector participants are testing additional use cases; two featured to date are Crunchfish, demonstrating deferred offline payments with a reserve-pay-settle lifecycle and double-spend controls, and TECHT Labs, demonstrating conditional business-to-business payments via smart contracts. The BoE explicitly disclaimed policy endorsement of any participant designs. A full Phase 2 report and webinar are expected in July 2026. [BoE]

BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.

FYI 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.