- Hong Kongโs HKMA has commenced the second phase of the e-HKD pilot scheme.
- The regulator has included 11 groups of participants in the program.
- The participants will examine e-HKDโs feasibility across three main themes.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has initiated the second phase of its e-HKD Pilot Programme to test new use cases with 11 groups of firms across various sectors.
The development followed the conclusion of the first phase, which launched in October last year to explore six use cases with 16 banks and payment companies. The use cases included online payments in shops and restaurants, tokenized asset settlement, Web3 trading and clearing, tokenized deposits, and collection of government payouts.
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In the second phase, the HKMA will examine the feasibility of โinnovativeโ use cases submitted by the 11 groups of participants in May.
Project e-HKD Enters Second Phase
In a press release on September 23, the HMKA said the second phase of the e-HKD pilot scheme will focus on testing the efficiency of digital money and tokenized deposits across three broad themes, including settlement of blockchain-based assets, programmability, and offline payments.
โThe outcome of Phase 2 will help the HKMA understand the practical issues that may be faced in designing, implementing and operating a digital money ecosystem that comprises both publicly and privately issued digital moneys,โ the regulator stated.
Similar to Phase 1, the second stage will feature a regulatory e-HKD sandbox to help pilot participants accelerate their prototyping, development, and testing over the next 12 months. After that, the HKMA will share key findings with the public by the end of 2025.
The programโs participants include those who joined the first phase, such as Standard Chartered, HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, Boston Consulting Group, Mastercard, Visa, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and ICBC. New participants include BlackRock, Fidelity International, Aptos Labs, and others.
Howard Lee, HKMAโs deputy chief executive, said the digital currency program has been renamed Project e-HKD+ to facilitate a more โinclusive and comprehensiveโ exploration of digital money.
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