“The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) said on Tuesday that it is set to develop a prototype of how a central bank digital currency (CBDC) might work in the US in practice.  The corporation, which provides post-trade market infrastructure for the financial services industry, said in a press release that the model will use distributed ledger technology (DLT) and measure the benefits of a CBDC.”

“South Africa has taken another step closer to implementing its central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) concludes a technical proof-of-concept for the project. The project titled Project Khokha 2 (PK2) is the second phase of SARB’s Project Khokha (PK1), launched in 2018. It experimented with distributed ledger technology (DLT) for interbank payments‘ settlement, successfully replicating the banks’ “SAMOS” real-time gross settlement system.”

“The US secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen has given a bit more insight into how regulation of digital assets like crypto and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could develop. Digital assets have grown explosively, reaching a market cap of $3 trillion last November from $14 billion just five years prior, she said.”

“The Swedish central bank’s digital currency project, a proposed CBDC, known as the e-krona has successfully finished its second phase of trials. According to Riksbank, the nation’s central bank, the asset is now technically ready to be integrated into banking networks and facilitate transactions.  During the second phase of the e-krona pilot project — which began in February 2021 — the CBDC was investigated on the matter of its technical ability to function within the country’s existing digital banking infrastructure. Participating banks included Handelsbanken and Tietoevry.”

“The future of money is digital. It is estimated that more than 80% of central banks are considering launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC) or have already done so.1  The 2022 PwC CBDC Global Index analyzes and ranks the leading retail and wholesale CBDC projects. The Index evaluates the current stage of CBDC project development also taking into account central bank opinion and public interest.”

“If the European Union issued a digital euro, it would need to establish laws in areas such as privacy and anti-money laundering, the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, said in a consultation published on Tuesday. The call for ideas , which is seen as the first step toward legislation from Brussels on the topic, is being made even before any formal decision has been taken on whether to issue a digital currency in the first place.”

“Jamaica’s Central Bank’s decision to pursue its own digital currency is as much an effort to reach out to the relative unbanked segment of the population as it is to continue the Western Caribbean country’s effort to digitise its economy. The Sunday Business Guardian reached out to the Bank of Jamaica’s deputy governor and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) implementation committee chair Natalie Haynes to discuss the Jam -Dex’s introduction to the Jamaican population. She explained the development of the digital currency served a dual purpose.”