Bank of China Hong Kong continues with its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project and has completed another phase of testing the digital Hong Kong dollar.
Summary
- Bank of China Hong Kong has completed another phase of his digital HKD tests.
- More than 1500 transactions were tested with the help of simulated e-HKD vouchers.
According to To local media on August 5, the Bank of China Hong Kong completed the second test phase for the digital Hong Kong-Dollar, E-HKD. This phase was aimed at two use cases to evaluate how the digital currency could work in real-world scenarios.
During the tests, nearly 500 participants received a uniform digital wallet after completing the identity verification. The wallet, built on Bochk’s own Alliance Blockchain, was connected to several mobile bank applications for easy access and management.
Users then received simulated digital HKD vouchers, which they spent in local coffee shops and completed more than 1500 test transactions. Every transaction required digital signatures from both the users and the banks.
The last test round follows the first series of pilots last year, where potential use cases were tested in six categories. This included fully -fledged and programmable payments, such as payment of the government, offline deposits, tokenized payments and the settlement of ‘Web3’ transactions tokenized assets.
The HKMA said that it will continue to collaborate with stakeholders to study the possible usage cases of the E-HKD, as well as the challenges and worries with regard to the implementation and design prior to the potential launch.
What is E-HKD?
Disagined with 2023, the Digital Hong Kong Dollar (E -HKD) is a central bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project led by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). It is part of a broader initiative called “Digital HKD Plus”, which is aimed at exploring the practical use of digital money in real-life institutions, from retail payments to programmable finances.
If rolled out, E-HKD would be a recognized payment method in the region, available for private individuals, companies and financial institutions. Although no formal launch date has been established, the successful completion of the two planned pilots suggests a movement to implementation.
In addition to CBDC’s, Hong Kong also embraces privately published Stablecoins. The first Stablecoin bill in the history of the region came in force on 1 August, so that a uniform license and regulation system was established for the release of Fiat-Gegen-nominated Stablecoins in local industry.
In the meantime, the government has recently released its second policy statement on digital assets, aimed at important areas such as regulations and local acceptance as part of its broader push to build a fully -fledged digital ecosystem.
