Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260425)

April 25, 2026April 25, 2026 ~ kiffmeister ~ Leave a comment

How Agentic AI Will Reshape Payments (IMF)

An IMF paper by Sonja Davidovic and Hervé Tourpe argues that agentic artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to fundamentally alter payment system architecture by shifting transaction initiation from human instructions to machine decisions. The note applies a three-layer framework of intent, authorization, and settlement to identify where agentic AI can add efficiency while preserving control and transaction finality. The paper finds that the core tension between AI’s probabilistic decision-making and the deterministic requirements of payment infrastructure raises unresolved questions about authorization integrity, compliance traceability, and systemic risk concentration. Governance and institutional design — rather than technology alone — are identified as the primary determinants of whether outcomes are stabilizing or destabilizing. The principal open question is how existing legal and regulatory frameworks, which presuppose human-initiated transactions, can be adapted to assign accountability when autonomous agents are the transacting parties. [IMF]

I think that this paper is significant because it is the first one of its kind, focusing outwardly to risks posed by wide-scale agentic AI usage, that I’ve come across, from an official institution. However, there are a few that come close, albeit not from official institutions:

AI Agents in Action: Foundations for Evaluation and Governance (WEF)

In November 2025 the World Economic Forum (WEF), set out a framework for deploying large language model-based AI agents in organizations, emphasizing structured evaluation and progressive governance. The paper argues that agent architectures now combine application, orchestration and reasoning layers, connected via interoperability protocols that enable powerful multi-agent workflows but expand the cyber attack surface. It proposes classifying agents by function, role, predictability, autonomy, authority and operational context to link technical design choices to risk assessment and safeguards, supporting proportionate controls and clearer allocation of responsibility between providers and adopters. [WEF]

Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI (IMDA)

Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) published a model governance framework for agentic AI that prescribes how organizations should bound risks, assign accountability, and embed controls across the lifecycle of autonomous language‑model‑based agents. It defines agents as multi‑step planners with tools, memory, and protocols, emphasizes risk from real‑world action, sensitive data access, and complex multi‑agent dynamics, and analyzes new system‑level failure modes. The framework then articulates four pillars—upfront risk/use‑case assessment, human accountability and oversight, lifecycle technical and security controls, and end‑user responsibility through transparency and training—as a reference architecture for enterprise deployment and prospective regulation. It positions these as adaptable building blocks rather than fixed rules, and flags open questions around agent identity, dynamic authorization, evaluation methods, and cross‑border accountability, inviting feedback and case studies to refine future iterations. [IMDA]

Systemic Risks Associated with Agentic AI (ACM)

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) published a policy brief arguing that current European Union (EU) AI Act provisions only partially address systemic risks from highly autonomous agentic AI systems. It describes agents capable of self-directed, tool-using operation and multi-agent coordination, stressing risks of loss of human control, opacity, economic disruption, and malicious uses in cyberattacks, disinformation, and market manipulation. The brief proposes shifting from static, product-focused rules to dynamic governance with lifecycle monitoring, multi-agent testing, strengthened cybersecurity, and potential new categories for macroeconomic and systemic risks. It highlights unresolved questions on alignment oversight, liability allocation, and integrating fiscal, competition, and labor policy with AI regulation. [ACM]

Granted, the BIS has published a paper on a very specific payments-focused agentic AI use case, I’m looking for papers that focus on policy issues around agentic AI governance and risk mitigation.

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 (20260416)

April 16, 2026April 16, 2026 ~ kiffmeister ~ Leave a comment

Factors that Promote Adoption and Use of a CBDC Wallet in Peru (IDEAS)

Banco Central de Reserva del Perú (BCRP) economists examined the determinants of adoption and usage of Peru’s retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot, implemented through Viettel’s BiPay digital wallet beginning in October 2024, focusing on eight regions with low financial inclusion. Based on individual-level survey data, active CBDC usage was positively associated with awareness of the BCRP’s role in the pilot, wallet satisfaction, knowledge of functionalities, and prior digital wallet use, while self-employment was negatively associated, plausibly due to the pilot’s closed-loop, non-interoperable design. Targeted advertising significantly increased merchant adoption, active user counts, and bill payment volumes, with merchant network expansion identified as a key transmission channel. The authors conclude that retail CBDC scaling requires attention to both sides of the payment market — user-facing communication and financial incentives on the demand side, merchant onboarding on the supply side — with interoperability remaining a persistent structural barrier to broader adoption. [IDEAS]

South Korean Government to Test Tokenized Deposits on Disbursements (MOEF)

South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) will run a regulatory sandbox pilot in Sejong City to use distributed ledger technology (DLT) based tokenized bank deposits for day‑to‑day government operational spending, testing preset time, amount, and category controls on expenses to improve oversight and reduce misuse, with legal and regulatory changes and nationwide rollout targeted from Q4 2026 as part of a broader plan to digitize around a quarter of treasury disbursements by 2030, building on an earlier tokenized‑deposit subsidy pilot for EV charging infrastructure. https://cointelegraph.com/news/south-korea-pilot-tokenized-deposits-government-spending [MOEF]

Tether Launches tether.wallet Self-Custodial Digital Wallet (Tether)

Tether has launched tether.wallet, a self‑custodial digital wallet intended to extend its stablecoin‑based payment infrastructure directly to end users in over 160 countries. The product aggregates access to Tether’s digital dollars (USD₮, USA₮), gold (XAU₮), and Bitcoin across multiple networks, abstracts away gas‑token management, and enables transfers via simple human‑readable identifiers, reducing frictions that have limited previous wallet adoption. This move potentially deepens dollarization dynamics in high‑inflation and underbanked jurisdictions while bypassing bank‑intermediated channels. [Tether]

Central Banks of UAE and Philippines Agree to Link Instant Payment Systems (CBUAE)

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support broader cooperation on financial infrastructure and payments connectivity. This includes working to integrate their instant payment platforms to enable seamless cross-border payment transactions. The MoU also provides for collaboration on central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiatives, including sharing expertise on the development of CBDC platforms for individuals and institutions. [CBUAE]

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260405)

April 5, 2026April 8, 2026 ~ kiffmeister ~ Leave a comment

Is Nigeria’s eNaira Dead? (Cryptonews)

[October 22, 2025] Nigeria’s eNaira has effectively slipped into a quiet death, with official channels and infrastructure fading away even as authorities stop short of formally killing the project. The mobile apps have disappeared from major app stores, the USSD access channel no longer works, leaving users locked out or unable to complete basic actions. And the eNaira’s official website returns a “404 Web Site not found” message and the official social media presence has been silent since 2023. [Cryptonews]

Question to readers: Should the eNaira be classified as “canceled” in the CBDCTracker.org database? The story above is old, but everything it says is now current.

Innovations and the Layering of Money and Payments (SAFE)

In a Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe (SAFE) working paper, Ulrich Bindseil argues that technological innovation is reshaping but not abolishing the hierarchical “layering” of money and payment ledgers, with central bank money remaining the ultimate anchor. He develops a typology of ledger layers and balance‑sheet structures, then applies it to central bank digital currency (CBDC), instant payment systems, public blockchains, tokenized multi‑asset platforms, expanded non‑bank access to central bank accounts, and stablecoins, finding that most proposals reorganize tiers rather than create a genuinely flat architecture. This matters because optimal layering balances efficiency, risk allocation, and governance: central banks should preserve singleness of money via a senior public ledger while selectively widening access and modernizing regulation to manage new operational and financial risks. The key unresolved question is how far to extend base‑layer access and programmability without undermining the advantages of a two‑tier banking system or overburdening central banks’ risk‑management role. [SAFE vis SSRN]

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260404)

April 4, 2026April 4, 2026 ~ kiffmeister ~ Leave a comment

Worldpay 2026 Global Payments Report (Worldpay)

Worldpay published the 2026 edition of its Global Payments Report in which it argues that global consumer payments are rapidly shifting toward digital wallets and app‑based rails, with cards adapting and crypto evolving rather than disrupting. The report documents rising wallet dominance in e‑commerce and at point of sale, regional variation in account‑to‑account systems, and the continued but declining direct share of cards as usage migrates into wallets. These developments sharpen questions about governance of national fast‑payment infrastructures, merchant routing and fee regulation, cross‑border interoperability, and the competitive position of bank‑issued cards versus platform wallets and “superapps.” They also highlight how buy-now-pay-later and card‑backed installments blur prudential and consumer‑protection boundaries, and how stablecoin‑based payment rails may need bespoke oversight alongside traditional systems. [Worldpay]

An Efficient Frontier Analysis of Stablecoin Reserve Management (VISA)

VISA published an article in which Ezechiel Copic uses an efficient frontier framework to show how new U.S. and EU stablecoin rules compress reserve returns and reorient issuer economics toward liquidity and resilience. The article models pre‑regulation reserve strategies using Tether’s historical mix to illustrate a wide opportunity set, then re‑estimates frontiers under the U.S. GENIUS Act and the EU’s Markets in Crypto‑Assets Regulation. Under GENIUS, a narrow set of high‑quality liquid assets leaves only a thin band of feasible risk‑return combinations, making reserve management resemble liquidity engineering rather than portfolio optimization. Under MiCA, lower euro‑area rates and binding bank‑deposit floors further depress and compress the frontier, especially for “significant” issuers. The analysis implies competition will shift from balance‑sheet yield to technology, distribution, and compliance, while leaving open how far reduced issuer economics may constrain market entry and long‑run innovation. [VISA]

Tokenized Finance (IMF)

The IMF’s Tobias Adrian argues that tokenization is a structural reconfiguration of financial architecture that shifts trust and risk management from institutions to programmable infrastructures. Tokenization enables atomic, real-time settlement and embedded compliance across money, banking, capital markets, and financial market infrastructures, compressing value chains but also accelerating liquidity dynamics and potential stress transmission. For emerging and developing economies, although tokenization may lower payment and market-access frictions, it heightens risks of volatile capital flows, currency substitution, and fragmented liquidity. The note emphasizes that the long-term success of tokenization depends on anchoring digital finance in public trust through clear policy frameworks and safe settlement assets, robust governance of code, legal certainty, and international coordination. Absent such anchors, tokenization risks amplifying financial instability through speed, concentration, and fragmentation, as contract-based risk management alter the nature of settlement, liquidity, and systemic risk. [IMF]

Results of the SNB 2025 Payment Methods Survey of Private Individuals (SNB)

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) reported its 2025 survey results on payment behavior among private individuals in Switzerland. The SNB finds that use of payment methods at physical points of sale is largely unchanged from 2024, with debit cards leading, followed by cash and mobile payment apps, based on diary and questionnaire responses from roughly 2,000 residents. For policy and cash-infrastructure design, satisfaction with cash access has dropped from 88% to 81%, likely reflecting the continued reduction of automated teller machines and similar access points, which may pressure authorities to reconsider minimum cash-access standards or incentives for basic cash services. At the same time, only 2% of respondents support abolishing cash, underscoring that cash still fulfills a demanded role in retail payments and resilience planning. [SNB]

And now for more backfilling, more of which is to come…

Do We Really Need the Digital Euro: A Solution to What Problem Exactly? (IEA)

[April 30, 2025] The Instituto Espanol de Analysts (IEA) published a book that included a chapter by European Parliament rapporteur Fernando Navarette, that argues that a digital euro is a mis-specified response to Europe’s payments challenges and should be downgraded to a contingency “Plan B.” He contends that the core problems—trust in money post‑crisis, overreliance on non‑EU payment schemes, and stablecoin‑driven currency substitution—are better addressed through institutional and regulatory reforms, wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), and pan‑European instant‑payment solutions based on commercial bank money. Navarrete stresses that retail CBDC is inherently destabilizing for bank funding, raises unresolved privacy and governance risks, and risks crowding out private innovation, especially if coupled with legal tender and complex “waterfall” mechanics. He instead proposes a three‑pillar architecture: private‑led interoperable instant payments, a narrowly scoped offline digital euro, and wholesale CBDC—leaving a full retail CBDC only as a last‑resort backup if private efforts fail. [IEA]

The eNaira Journey So Far (in 2023) (CBN)

[In 2023] the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published a book on the economics of digital currencies in which there was a review of how the eNaira central bank digital currency (CBDC) was designed, launched, and managed. It argues that weak demand reflects structural and institutional frictions rather than purely technological failure. The review documents a phased rollout focused on financial inclusion, payment efficiency, and monetary control, but shows that limited interoperability, burdensome onboarding, and unclear value propositions constrained uptake. It emphasizes how institutional choices around wallet tiers, distribution architecture, and bank–fintech roles reshaped market incentives, often reinforcing banks’ dominance rather than fostering broader innovation. It highlights the need to recalibrate design toward open interfaces, clearer legal and regulatory frameworks, and better alignment between central bank objectives and private‑sector business models. [CBN]

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260401)

April 1, 2026April 1, 2026 ~ kiffmeister ~ Leave a comment

The Eurosystem’s Comprehensive Payments Strategy (ECB)

The European Central Bank (ECB) set out the Eurosystem’s comprehensive two pronged payments strategy, defining its vision for the evolution of European payments under rapid technological change. The first prong is upgrading core infrastructures such as T2, the real time gross settlement backbone for high value and time critical payments during business days, and TIPS, the 24/7 Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) instant retail settlement layer, while developing distributed ledger technology based wholesale settlement via Pontes and Appia. The second prong is a retail digital euro, with tokenized deposits and regulated, EU governed stablecoins in a complementary role. The strategy links tokenization choices to preserving the singleness of money, monetary sovereignty, and financial stability, reduces dependence on non European schemes, and embeds strategic autonomy and cyber resilience into core infrastructures and retail acceptance layers. It also promotes deeper integration of cross border and corporate payments through instant payments, standardization, and interlinking fast payment systems. [ECB]

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260328)

March 28, 2026March 28, 2026 ~ kiffmeister ~ Leave a comment

Sorry for the long radio silence, but I was traveling this week (Switzerland for private meetings and Frankfurt to speak at Frankfurt School’s Crypto Assets Conference and the Digital Euro Association’s Annual Conference (both excellent annual conferences that you should mark your next year’s calendar for). On top of that I picked up a stomach bug (probably food poisoning along the way). Anyways I’m back in the saddle now and trying to catch up and make sure I get the monthly out on time (see below).

Bank of Uganda Looking for Consultants for CBDC Feasibility Study (BOU)

The Bank of Uganda (BOU) is inviting qualified consultants or consulting firms to submit expressions of interest to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study on issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Uganda, covering technical infrastructure, legal and regulatory aspects, economic and social impacts, operational viability, and a detailed cost-benefit analysis using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The selected firm will assess national digital and payments infrastructure, propose and apply a robust methodology, and deliver specified reports demonstrating understanding, relevant experience, and a workplan. Participation is open under Bank of Uganda procurement rules, with detailed eligibility, experience, and team composition criteria (multi-disciplinary CBDC, payments, economic, legal, cybersecurity, and change-management experts) and a minimum technical score of 70 points for shortlisting. The deadline for submissions is on April 16, 2026. [BOU]

Norges Bank’s Exploration of Central Bank Digital Currency (Norges Bank)

Norges Bank published four reports from its CBDC exploratory work, which last year concluded that introducing a CBDC is currently not warranted. The need for such a currency may, however, change in the future. The four reports published today describe the exploration work and the assessments underpinning the conclusion. Norges Bank will continue to explore tokenization and different forms of CBDC in order to introduce a CBDC should it be necessary The Bank will explore the possibilities and consequences of tokenization through activities such as experimental technology testing, also in collaboration with other payment system participants. One of the papers documents sandbox tests of a two-tier, blockchain-based retail CBDC that central bank exclusively mints and redeems, while banks and other payment service providers manage all customer relationships and data. Tests show that role-based smart contracts can technically enforce this division of responsibilities and give the central bank only aggregate, real-time circulation data, but they also highlight structural privacy risks from linkable pseudonymous addresses and operational rigidity from immutable smart contracts. [Norges Bank]

Tether Appoints KPMG to Complete First Full Audit (Tether)

Tether has appointed KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms, to perform a proper audit of its USDT stablecoin. Additionally, according to the Financial Times, Tether has also enlisted PwC, another of the Big four, to help prepare its internal systems for this auditing process. This initiative coincides with Tether’s plans to register USDT under the U.S. GENIUS Act, signaling a significant step in its expansion efforts within the U.S. market. [Tether]

Western Union has Big Plans for Stablecoins (American Banker)

Western Union is making a strategic pivot toward stablecoins as part of the 175-year-old company’s efforts to transform into a digital-first organization. The company’s own stablecoin — the U.S. Dollar Payment Token (USDPT), issued on the Solana blockchain and managed by U.S. Bank — will convert “negative float” (capital costs from pre-funding partners) into interest-bearing revenue. Beyond revenue generation, USDPT gives Western Union programmable compliance controls across its operations in 200 countries and territories, allowing transaction terms to be customized at the partner level. The stablecoin is also expected to help customers in inflation-prone economies hold dollar-denominated assets. [American Banker]

GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026 (GSMA)

The GSMA published its annual mobile money report showing that mobile money has entered a new scale and maturity phase, processing over 2.1 trillion dollars annually through 2.3 billion registered accounts in 2025. The report documents rapid growth in active usage, merchant payments, interoperable bank–wallet transfers, and agent networks that digitize cash at volume. Mobile money now underpins basic account ownership in many low‑ and middle‑income countries, shifts payments from cash to digital channels, and increasingly delivers adjacent services such as nano‑credit, savings, and insurance, with most providers profitable. It also raises design questions around interoperability, cross‑border data rules, taxation of transactions, consumer protection, fraud controls, and persistent gender gaps in account use. [GSMA]

And some backfilling:

Final Report of the Consultation on CBDC for Uganda (BOU)

[June 2025] The Bank of Uganda (BOU) published the final report on its central bank digital currency (CBDC) consultation. It argues that a CBDC merits further, phased exploration as a tool for modernizing payments, inclusion, and regional integration. The survey of 151 largely domestic, policy‑adjacent stakeholders found high reported trust in a CBDC, strong expectations of reduced cash‑handling costs and improved payment efficiency, and majority support for a retail, potentially programmable instrument that coexists with current systems. For policy and institutional design, the report frames CBDC as building on Uganda’s extensive mobile money and real-time gross settlement (RTGS) infrastructure, potentially enhancing transparency, cross‑border trade in the East African Community, and monetary policy implementation, while emphasizing preconditions around legal frameworks, cybersecurity, and stakeholder engagement. [BOU]

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260321)

March 21, 2026March 21, 2026 ~ kiffmeister

The first two papers below were authored by my two friends, Joachim Samuelsson and Ulrich Bindseil, who will also be speaking at this Thursday’s Digital Euro Conference (see below) in Frankfurt. Also, Joachim very kindly helped me to summarize both articles, which I greatly appreciated as I’ve been very tied up in other matters these past few weeks.

Offline Payments at Scale as Digital Money (Crunchfish)

Crunchfish published an executive white paper that reframes offline payments from a resilience add-on to ledger-based payments platforms to core payments infrastructure. In a fully digital economy, the absence of offline capability becomes a systemic vulnerability, but the architecture matters. The paper provides an analytical framework for evaluating offline models as a lens for institutional alignment. It distinguishes between immediate offline (which shifts value and risk to devices), deferred offline (preserves ledger money but introduces credit and reconciliation risk) and governed offline (reservation-based in which funds remain reserved at source, enabling offline execution with deterministic settlement). The governed offline model aligns with card pre-authorization and smart contract settlement. In the case of central bank digital currency (CBDC) it maintains central bank control offline, preserves singleness of digital money and avoids fragmentation. [Crunchfish]

Public Discourse on Retail Payments and the Case of CBDC (Ulrich Bindseil)

Ulrich Bindseil posted a white paper that analyzes retail payments as a network industry shaped by strong incentives to influence public opinion and regulation. Due to network effects, high fixed costs, and path dependence, multiple architectures can deliver similar outcomes while redistributing value across stakeholders. The paper maps how banks, card schemes, Bigtechs, merchants, consumers, crypto actors, and public authorities promote strategic narratives, creating a noisy and biased policy debate. It evaluates central bank digital currency (CBDC) as a central policy choice, alongside alternatives such as regulation or public instant-payment systems. One of the paper’s key insights is that retail payment outcomes are not determined purely by efficiency, but by strategic communication, political economy, and institutional design under uncertainty. In addition, effective policy requires independent analysis, transparency, and preserving a balance between public and private money. [SSRN]

Stablecoins and the Future of Payments: Evidence from Financial Markets (IMF)

The IMF published a working paper that argues that recent U.S. stablecoin legislation is interpreted by markets as a major pro‑competitive shock to the payments industry. Using high‑frequency stock‑price data around key votes on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, they estimate that passage reduced incumbent U.S. payment firms’ aggregate market capitalization by about 18% (roughly $300 billion) once anticipation is accounted for, with larger losses for cross‑border specialists and smaller or no losses for firms protected by strong network effects or already offering crypto services. The authors infer that investors expect regulated, fully backed “payment stablecoins” to materially intensify competition—especially in cross‑border payments—while leaving open how far network incumbency and early crypto engagement will mitigate disruption over time. [IMF]

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

The Crypto Assets Conference (Frankfurt, March 25) will focus on the growing importance of digital assets for capital markets and the competitiveness of the European economy. I will be speaking on the uncertain future of CBDC projects. [Register here and get 15% off the regular ticket price.]

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! [Register here and get 20% off the regular ticket price by using the Kiffmeister20 code!]

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 (20260319)

March 19, 2026March 19, 2026 ~ kiffmeister

Bank of Korea Launches Full-Scale Implementation of “Project Han River” Phase 2 (BOK)

The Bank of Korea (BOK) announced Phase II of Project Hangang. It aims to trial large-scale, won-pegged deposit tokens built on a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) layer, to cut transaction costs for both major corporations and small merchants burdened by credit card fees, building on Phase I’s system build out and 2025 live pilot. Participating banks will expand from 7 to 9 and merchant coverage will be significantly broadened. Phase II will test person to person transfers, biometric authentication, and automatic deposit token funding and sweep out. It will also deepen programmability, using digital vouchers in blockchain based treasury pilots such as an electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure project, and continue experiments with AI agent payments and tokenized bonds and equities. The 2026 agenda includes support for government treasury execution, and external consulting on regulation and operating models, with a Phase III vision of low cost universal payments, programmable financial services, and infrastructure for Korea’s broader digital asset ecosystem. [BOK]

ECB Calls for Experts to Participate in Digital Euro Rulebook Development (ECB)

The European Central Bank (ECB) launched a call for experts to join two workstreams under the digital euro Rulebook Development Group (RDG) to support further development of the digital euro scheme rulebook, which will set common rules, standards and procedures for using the digital euro across the euro area. One workstream (G5) will focus on implementation specifications for ATMs and payment terminals, including communication technologies, integration of offline digital euro functionality and leveraging existing standards, requiring expertise in ATM and terminal interfacing or provision. The other (B1) will design a certification and approval framework for testing and certifying payment and acceptance solutions and infrastructure used by payment service providers in the digital euro ecosystem, requiring expertise in payments and acceptance devices. The ECB notes that the flexible draft rulebook will be updated to reflect the outcome of the EU legislative process, with any decision to issue a digital euro to follow only after legislation is adopted. [ECB]

ECB Workshop on Pontes Platform Decentralized Programmability (ECB)

The ECB published an updates to its Pontes project aimed at enabling the settlement of distributed ledger technology (DLT) transactions using central bank money (CeBM). Pontes is the near-term DLT-based interoperability solution linking DLT platforms with TARGET Services so DLT transactions settle in CeBM, using API-based trigger and hash-link mechanisms and dedicated DLT cash wallets funded from TARGET accounts. The update focused on a workshop on market-developed smart contracts deployed by national central banks on the Eurosystem DLT (“decentralized programmability”) that would enable cash-locking for delivery-versus-payment, programmable payments, microtransactions, DLT interoperability, and automated corporate actions. [ECB]

Consultation on the Eurosystem’s Appia Project (ECB)

The ECB also published an update to its Appia project aimed at enabling the settlement of DLT transactions using CeBM. Appia is the longer-term initiative to provide tokenized CeBM for DLT-based wholesale markets via a unified settlement ecosystem. The update concerns the launching a formal consultation inviting market and public authorities to comment on Appia’s proposed DLT‑based wholesale ecosystem design and six‑block workplan via a structured questionnaire due 22 April 2026. Feedback will shape standards, governance choices, cross‑border linkages, and prioritization of analytical and practical work toward a 2028 blueprint. [ECB]

SEC Approves Nasdaq’s Securities Tokenization Plan (SEC)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a Nasdaq rule change allowing certain listed securities to clear and settle in tokenized form via a Depository Trust Company (DTC) tokenization pilot. The order authorizes trading tokenized versions of large-cap equities and major index exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the same order book, with identical CUSIP, symbol, rights, and execution priority as traditional shares, with tokenization preferences expressed through an order flag and implemented post‑trade by DTC. This embeds distributed-ledger-based entitlements within existing exchange, clearing, and surveillance infrastructures, preserves T+1 settlement, and treats tokenized and traditional shares identically for fees, market data, and audit trail. The SEC frames the decision as technology‑neutral, while leaving broader questions about alternative tokenization models, issuer choice, and future non‑fungible tokenized instruments to subsequent rulemakings. [SEC]

Zero-Knowledge Proof Authentication for Offline CBDC Payments (arXiv)

Santanu Mondal and T. Chithralekha propose a hybrid offline central bank digital currency (CBDC) architecture that uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and secure hardware to enable cash-like payments on resource-constrained internet of things (IoT) devices while preserving regulatory oversight. The system combines a two-tier CBDC model with hierarchical “main wallet / IoT sub‑wallets,” secure elements and trusted execution environments for tamper-resistant key storage and counters, and NFC/BLE device-to-device transfers backed by lightweight ZKPs. This operationalizes intermittently offline CBDC designs, translating privacy-preserving anti–money laundering and counter–terrorist financing rules into on-device limits and ZKP circuits rather than continuous online monitoring, thereby shifting supervisory leverage into protocol and hardware design choices. Unresolved are empirical tradeoffs among proof complexity, device diversity, and real-world performance under regulatory stress scenarios. [arXiv]

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260318)

March 18, 2026March 18, 2026 ~ kiffmeister

Which is the Fairest of all Tokenized Monies? (OMFIF)

OMFIF published an article in which Ousmène Mandeng pitches tokenized money market fund (MMF) shares as an alternative tokenized settlement asset. They offer bankruptcy‑remote, interest‑bearing claims on sovereign or high‑quality assets rather than bank balance sheets. By enabling instant delivery‑versus‑delivery transfer and collateralization without title transfer, tokenized MMFs could shift institutional liquidity management from episodic subscription/redemption to continuous circulation, potentially easing run dynamics and unlocking high‑quality collateral for intraday liquidity and cross‑border settlement. Constant net asset value MMFs invested in government securities could function as par settlement instruments with favorable prudential treatment, positioning them as strong competitors to tokenized deposits and stablecoins in wholesale use cases. Key uncertainties concern the robustness of distributed ledger technology, the status of the on‑chain versus off‑chain legal register and the prudential and regulatory classification of these instruments, which will determine their scalability and systemic role. [OMFIF]

How Canada Can Shape the Future of Stablecoins and Digital Payments [CD Howe Institute)

The CD Howe Institute published an article in which Peter MacKenzie and Mark Zelmer argue that Canada must rapidly operationalize its Stablecoin Act and consider a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to avoid ceding payment-system sovereignty to U.S. dollar-linked stablecoins enabled by the GENIUS Act. They note that GENIUS-backed U.S. stablecoins and foreign exchanges could become core Canadian payment rails, undermining monetary sovereignty, domestic oversight, and data access, while Canada’s high-level Stablecoin Act leaves key issues on reserves, operations, and foreign platforms unresolved. The authors propose a function-based, two-track regime that treats pure payment stablecoins as fully backed payment instruments under Bank of Canada oversight and keeps tokenized deposits in the banking framework, complemented by Bank of Canada liquidity lines and a CBDC settlement layer to preserve singleness of money and cross-platform interoperability. They stress that the open question is whether Canada will implement detailed, “comparable” rules fast enough to shape international arrangements rather than import foreign standards. [CD Howe Institute]

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260317)

March 17, 2026March 17, 2026 ~ kiffmeister

The Curious Case of the Stablecoin Sandwich (LinkedIn)

G+D’s Lars Hupel posted an article on LinkedIn that argues that the “stablecoin sandwich” model for cross‑border payments—converting local currency to a (mostly USD) stablecoin, sending it on‑chain, then converting back—largely replicates traditional correspondent banking rather than solving its hardest problems, because liquidity is concentrated in a few USD‑denominated stablecoins and most currencies lack deep stablecoin markets, so efficiency gains are modest and partly driven by regulatory arbitrage rather than technology; meanwhile, central banks are pursuing more promising alternatives like interlinking instant payment systems, broadening access to real-time gross settlement systems (RTGSs) to non‑banks, and building multilateral central bank digital currency (CBDC) platforms such as mBridge and Project Agorá, which more directly tackle fragmentation and access in cross‑border payments. [LinkedIn]

Stablecoins Are Coming for FX Markets (Delphi Digital)

Delphi Digital argues that dollar stablecoins are rapidly gaining share in FX, especially in long‑tail emerging market corridors where legacy correspondent banking makes cross‑border payments slow and expensive, with most costs driven by infrastructure rather than FX risk. In corridors like Argentina or Nigeria, fees and spreads are largely compensation for pre‑funded nostro/vostro accounts, delayed settlement, credit risk, and multiple intermediaries, so stablecoin rails that offer atomic, near‑instant settlement in tokenized dollars can undercut banks and keep corridors viable. The piece highlights that new infrastructures show how on‑chain FX could settle in seconds instead of days. However, it stresses that fiat on/off‑ramps remain the main bottleneck, since bank wires still run on legacy batch rails and regulatory frictions, implying that stablecoins will not displace major FX pairs soon but are already rebuilding broken payment rails in under‑served corridors. [Delphi Digital]

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