“China will strengthen its cross-border yuan payments system and explore setting up infrastructure standards for a digital fiat currency as part of a five-year plan for financial standardization. The plan, to be implemented during the 2021-2025 period, was published by four government agencies including China’s central bank and the securities watchdog on Tuesday, but was dated Nov. 25, 2021.”

“In collaboration with a team at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, MIT experts have begun designing and testing technical research through which further examination of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) can be performed in the U.S.   The effort, known as Project Hamilton, is in an exploratory phase, and the research is not intended as a pilot or for public deployment. Instead, the researchers have explored two different approaches that could be used to process transactions, and thus could indicate the technical feasibility of a potential CBDC model.”

“India’s finance minister has said the country will launch a digital version of the rupee as early as this year. In her annual budget speech, Nirmala Sitharaman also outlined plans for a 30% tax on income from digital assets. It would put profits from trading or transferring cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens in the country’s highest tax band. India is the latest major economy to announce an official virtual currency, as China trials the digital yuan.”

“DCash — the digital currency used by seven Caribbean nations — has been down for the last two weeks and it’s unclear when it will be back online, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank said Friday. In an email, Karina Johnson, a DCash project manager at the bank, said officials were working “around the clock” with their service provider Bitt Inc. “to re-establish full transaction capabilities as quickly as possible.” The outage started on Jan. 14.”

“It appears that the United States will finally be moving forward to create its own central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to the Bank of America. Bank of America crypto strategists Andrew Moss and Alkesh Shah wrote in a Monday note that CBDCs “are an inevitable evolution of today’s electronic currencies,” according to a Bloomberg report .”

“The Bank of Korea wrapped up the first phase of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) simulation project in December, according to a report published on Monday. The first phase tested the basic functions of a CBDC including manufacturing, issuing and distribution in a simulation environment, the report said. It concluded that the CBDC “works normally” under test conditions.Based on the results of the first phase, the report said the South Korean central bank plans to explore implementing other functions such as offline payments and adding personal information protection enhancement technologies.”

“China’s digital currency has debuted on app stores with fanfare, with online wallets for the electronic yuan seeing mass adoption in the two weeks since a public launch, yet its actual use in transactions has been far less impressive. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is ramping up testing of the digital currency, dubbed e-CNY, ahead of next month’s Beijing Winter Olympics. But use of e-CNY is still limited to 10 major “pilot” cities, and hampered by people’s preference for Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent’s (0700.HK) WeChat Pay, which dominate China’s online payments.”

“Visa Inc. joined its rival Mastercard Inc. in offering central banks a way to test retail applications for digital currencies they might issue. The card payment provider will begin piloting a program this spring with ConsenSys Inc. , a blockchain software company, after discussions with roughly 30 central banks about goals related to government-backed digital currencies.”

“A panel of lawmakers from the U.K. Parliament delivered a blow to the Bank of England’s effort to launch a digital currency, saying officials have given no convincing reason it’s needed. The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, which includes former BOE Governor Mervyn King, raised concerns the project might threaten the stability of the banking system and inject the central bank into controversial debates on privacy.”

“Payments giant Visa has teamed up with Ethereum scaling firm ConsenSys to help central bank digital currency (CBDC) networks bridge the gap with traditional financial institutions. Customers will eventually be able to use their CBDC-linked Visa card or digital wallet anywhere that Visa is accepted globally, Catherine Gu, Visa’s head of CBDC, said in a blog post Q&A with ConsenSys.”

“Switzerland is practically ready to launch a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC). Working in concert, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and the country’s stock exchange, SIX, have test-driven the integration of wholesale CBDC settlement. Also included in the prototype were five commercial banks: Citi, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg and UBS. Wholesale CBDC is not to be confused with a digital currency issued by a central bank that would find its way into retail bank accounts, something Switzerland has already ruled out .”

“China is rolling out its digital yuan to athletes and spectators ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the first major test of the virtual currency’s appeal among foreigners. With less than a month to go before kickoff , and the event already encumbered by diplomatic boycotts and the threat of virus outbreaks, China is looking to use the games to showcase the digital yuan’s clout globally.”

“The app is still in an experimental phase and is only accessible to select individuals through authorized e-CNY service providers. While anyone in China could download the app, its usage is limited to select cities. Despite these limitations, the South China Morning Post reported that e-CNY managed to become the most downloaded app on Apple’s App Store one day after its launch, surpassing Tencent’s super app WeChat. It was dethroned by video-sharing app Kuaishou on Saturday. The app enjoyed similar success in Xiaomi’s mobile app store, a popular platform for Chinese Android users.”

“Tencent -owned WeChat, China’s largest messaging app and one of the country’s biggest payment services, will begin supporting the country’s sovereign digital currency. China has been working on the digital yuan since 2014 and is yet to roll it out nationwide. But the move by WeChat, which has over 1 billion users, to support the digital currency could provide it with a huge boost if people begin to pay with it.”

“China has released pilot versions of its digital yuan wallet application on mobile phone app stores as the country’s central bank steps up its push to develop its own digital currency. The “e-CNY (Pilot Version)” app, developed by the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) digital currency research institute, was available for download on Chinese Android and Apple app stores on Tuesday in Shanghai.”

“The Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) plans to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) by 2024, the Mexican government confirmed in a tweet on Wednesday evening. According to the tweet, which was written in Spanish, Banxico “will have a digital currency of its own in circulation” by 2024 as it considers of “utmost importance these new technologies and state-of-the-art payment infrastructure as options of great value to advance financial inclusion in the country.””

“The Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) has successfully completed its f central bank digital currency (CBDC), targeting a national rollout in the first quarter of 2022. After proceeding with initial CBDC prototype testing in March 2021, Jamaica’s central bank finished an eight-month-long pilot last Friday, the Jamaica Information Service reported . As part of the pilot, the BoJ minted 230 million Jamaican dollars (JMD) ($1.5 million) worth of the CBDC for issuance to deposit-taking institutions and authorized payment service providers on Aug. 9, 2021.”

“More than nine in 10 consumers in Nigeria (91%) and six in 10 consumers in Indonesia (60%) would be likely to use a central bank digital currency (CBDC) compared with less than 24% in the US and 14% in Germany, according to a report by Giesecke+Devrient and the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF).”

“Today the Banque de France announced it completed the final experiment for its wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) trials. The project started in March 2020 and four months later, it announced a set of eight consortia participants , one of which was HSBC . However, while the trials are complete, a reference to a ‘first tranche’ of experiments hints at further work to come.”

“The world is moving ahead with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The U.S., it increasingly appears, isn’t. Driving the news: Since the summer, a host of countries leaped forward in their development of CBDCs. The largest economy in Africa — Nigeria — launched one that’s now in use. And new collaborations between nations took shape. This interactive map by the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center, newly updated yesterday, shows where each country in the world stands in its development of a CBDC.”

“Yesterday Mu Changchun, who heads the Digital Currency Research Institute at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), said the digital yuan trials between Hong Kong and China have moved into a second phase. This links the Chinese central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) wallets to Hong Kong’s Faster Payments System (FPS). Mr. Mu was talking at a joint seminar between the PBoC and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).”

“Europe’s first cross-border trial of central bank digital currency (CBDC) payments has been described as a success by the central banks of Switzerland and France, though they said it would not immediately lead to issuance of CBDCs. Project Jura, named after the mountains between the two countries, is the latest in a series of CBDC trials conducted by central banks keen to rebut the threat from crypto assets. Just like physical cash, CBDCs essentially give holders a direct claim on the central bank.”

“Keeping Abreast With Developments on the Continent The Bank of Tanzania (BOT) has started preparations for its digital currency to ensure the country is not left behind others in adopting central bank digital currencies (CBDC), a Bloomberg report has said. The announcement follows reports that Zanzibar — an autonomous Tanzanian region off the coast of East Africa — is also keen on adopting digital currencies. The move by the BOT, which was confirmed by governor Florens Luoga, also comes almost a month after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) became the first central bank on the continent to launch a CBDC.”

“The Indian government is still seeking to ban most cryptocurrencies under a long-awaited cryptocurrencies bill that will be submitted for consideration at Parliament’s so-called “Winter Session” this year. According to a bulletin posted on Lok Sabha, the Indian parliament’s official website, The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, aims to create a framework that would facilitate the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).”

“A consortium of roughly 70 Japanese firms, including the country’s three mega-banks, said it aims to launch a yen-based digital currency in fiscal 2022 after beginning trials in coming months. The digital currency, tentatively called “DCJPY”, will be backed by bank deposits and use a common platform to speed up large-scale fund transfers and settlement among companies, Kazuhiro Tokita, chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange DeCurret which is leading the consortium, said at a news conference on Wednesday.”

“The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has published a white paper that explores potential technical and design options for issuing and distributing retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and proposes a two-tier system as “one possible design” for a digital HK dollar or e-HKD. The 50-page e-HKD: A Technical Perspective white paper represents “the first step of our technical exploration for the e-HKD” and forms part of a wider study into both technical and policy considerations that “aims to come up with an initial view by the middle of next year,” the HKMA says.”

“Cash is disappearing from the U.K. economy, a Bank of England official said in building the case for a new form of digital currency backed by the government. The central bank’s Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said that technology including the internet and the popularity of credit and debit cards are reducing the role cash played in transactions. Authorities, he said, will have to adapt to keep some sort of state-backed money prominent in the financial system.”

“In China, fraudsters use similar methods to what they’d try for a debit or credit card scam but adapted for the digital yuan. The 21st Century Herald gave two examples. In one case, the target of the fraud was contacted and told that an item he’d bought was defective, and the company wanted to give him a treble refund. But first, he had to make a payment using his digital currency wallet. Eleven people have been arrested and are allegedly linked to a Cambodian money laundering ring. Somehow China’s Skynet mass video surveillance was used to track the culprits.”