Hong Kong Establishes 'Industry Community' to Advance Wholesale CBDC Development
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has established a working group focused on "developing standards" for the use of wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has established a working group focused on "developing standards" for the use of wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC). This initiative, known as the Project Ensemble Architecture Community, was announced on Tuesday with the goal of "enhancing interoperability" among wholesale CBDC, tokenized money, and tokenized assets.
The HKMA's stated goal for the community is to create "a mechanism to support seamless interbank settlement of tokenized deposit through wCBDC for tokenized asset transactions." The group includes highly influential organizations in the finance and technology sectors, such as the Securities and Futures Commission, the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre, and the CBDC Expert Group, along with seven private sector members including Bank of China (Hong Kong), Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered Hong Kong, HashKey Group, Ant Digital Technologies, and Microsoft Hong Kong.
The working group is also tasked with facilitating the design and implementation of a wholesale CBDC. The HKMA has launched the second phase of the e-HKD pilot, which commenced in March and is expected to continue until mid-2025.
