“The Bank of England and Britain’s finance ministry said on Tuesday that they would hold a formal consultation next year on whether to move forward on a possible central bank digital currency (CBDC) that would take years to introduce.”

“The Bank of France called for further research on a central bank digital currency for wholesale use in the financial sector after finding efficiency advantages for markets and payments. Testing showed a CBDC could maintain standards for securities settlements and avoid potential fragmentation from the existence of multiple private versions, according to the bank. It could also make cross-border payments “faster, cheaper, more transparent and more inclusive,” it said in its first report since starting to look into the subject in 2020.”

“China has increased the number of individuals with digital yuan accounts to 140 million, with 10 million corporate accounts created, a top official at the People’s Bank of China said. Transactions in e-CNY, as the currency is known, reached 62 billion yuan ($9.7 billion) in trials rolled out in about a dozen regions, Mu Changchun, head of the PBOC’s Digital Currency Institute, said at the Hong Kong Fintech Week conference on Wednesday. The volume of transactions totaled 150 million.”

“The adoption of digital payments by the country’s smaller towns has laid the groundwork for the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) digital currency based on blockchain technology. The banking regulator has been working on the phased implementation of its digital currency—the central bank digital currency (CBDC) or the rupee in electronic form. A pilot may be launched by December . The initiative, like offline digital payments , aims to actualise the government’s vision of a financial system with less cash.”

“Nigeria will on Monday launch a digital currency, the eNaira, the central bank said, months after it barred banks and financial institutions from dealing in or facilitating transactions in cryptocurrencies. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele has said the eNaira would operate as a wallet against which customers can hold existing funds in their bank account.”

“Ghana is working to make a digital form of its currency available to offline users. The e-cedi, which the Bank of Ghana is set to pilot , seeks to facilitate transactions without the need for power or connectivity, according to Kwame Oppong, who heads fintech and innovation at the regulator. “Financial inclusion is limited by the availability of connectivity and power,” Oppong said at the Ghana Economic Forum Monday. “What we hope to be able to do – and we’re one of the people pioneering this – is that the e-cedi would also be capable of being used in an offline environment through some smart cards.” About half of Ghana’s population had access to the internet as of 2019, and 84% had access to power, according to World Bank data.”

“Japan will prioritize simplicity in its development of a central bank digital currency. A senior official at the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has stated that this will ensure the digital yen is interoperable with other local payment systems. The BOJ has been stepping up its efforts in developing the CBDC at a time when other Asian giants are taking huge leaps in this field. China is the leader in the region with its digital yuan, with other nations like Thailand and Hong Kong also quickly advancing, both at a national and regional level .”

“The Digital Pound Foundation (DPF), a group of technology, innovation, and regulatory experts, has announced its launch as an independent non-profit organization in the U.K. According to a release issued on Thursday, the DPF will work to promote the implementation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the country. Indeed, as previously reported by Cointelegraph , the U.K. government in April established a CBDC task force to explore preliminary matters related to the creation of a national digital currency. The DPF, as part of its stated mandate, will carry out research and engage in collaboration with stakeholders to support the U.K.’s CBDC project.”

“A Bank for International Settlements (BIS) working group of seven central banks has determined the impacts of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) on crowding out banks as middlemen in transactions and as facilitators of lending could be manageable for the industry if given the time and flexibility to adjust. The working group published not one but three new reports on Thursday exploring customer needs, technological design alternatives and financial stability implications of a general purpose or “retail” CBDC – meaning a digital currency issued directly by a central bank – that would coexist with private payment systems.”

“Hong Kong’s Monetary Authority, its de facto central bank, has released a whitepaper on retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) while it continues to explore the potential of a digital Hong Kong dollar (e-HKD) for its domestic and cross-border markets. The white paper was published Monday by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), which is the de-facto central bank of the city who’s official title is the Hong Kong Special Administration of the People’s Republic of China.“”

“The Federal Reserve plans as early as this week to launch a review of the potential benefits and risks of issuing a U.S. digital currency, as central banks around the world experiment with the potential new form of money. Fed officials are divided on the matter, making it unlikely they will decide any time soon on whether to create a digital dollar. Unlike private cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, a Fed version would be issued by and backed by the U.S. central bank, a government entity, as are U.S. paper dollar bills and coins.”

“New Zealand’s central bank is exploring the possibility of issuing a digital currency, saying the benefits it would bring include its potential use as a monetary policy tool…While developing a CBDC would require long lead times given the complexities and involve a multi-stage approach, the RBNZ said it broadly favors the idea. A digital currency should support the New Zealand dollar “as our single unit of account” and be exchanged 1-for-1 with cash, it said, adding “cash is here to stay for as long as some of us need it.””

“Already having conducted more than $5 billion in e-renminbi transactions, China has opened its digital currency up to foreigners. Next year, when Beijing hosts the Winter Olympic Games, authorities are expecting to let the world test drive its technological achievement. The U.S., by contrast, is having trouble even concluding its multi-year exploration into the possibility of an e-dollar. In fact, an upcoming Federal Reserve paper on a potential U.S. digital currency won’t take a position on whether the central bank of the United States will, or even should, create one.”

“Everis, a consultancy that is part of the NTT DATA Group, has said it will be working with the British Standards Institution (BSI), Bank of England, University College London (UCL), and the University of Edinburgh on Project FIRE (Future Infrastructure for Retail Remittances). Proposed by UCL and funded by The PETRAS National Centre of Excellence for IoT Systems Cybersecurity, the project aims to understand the devices and infrastructure required to enable the use of a token-based retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) that replicates certain key features of cash; accessibility, non-discrimination, privacy, and custodianship by the owner.”

“Since central bank digital currency (CBDC)-related projects made way in some countries, many more joined the party. Based on reports, India is considering launching a trial for digital rupee in December 2021. The project will be the country’s first digital currency trial initiative, said Governor Shaktikanta Das to CNBC.”

“The Bank for International Settlements and four central banks will test the use of digital currencies for cross-border transactions, as global regulators seek to improve the speed of movement of money in a cheaper, more transparent manner. The BIS Innovation Hub, along with Reserve Bank of Australia, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Bank Negara Malaysia and South African Reserve Bank, aims to develop prototype shared platforms for cross-border transactions using multiple central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, the group of global regulators said in a Sept. 2 press release.”

“Nigeria will work with Bitt Inc as a technical partner in its bid to launch its own cryptocurrency, the “eNaira”, the Central Bank said on Monday. The Central Bank announced plans to launch its own digital currency later this year after Nigeria barred banks and financial institutions from dealing in or facilitating transactions in cryptocurrencies in February. Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele has said the eNaira would operate as a wallet against which customers can hold existing funds in their bank account. In a statement on Monday, Emefiele said the currency would accelerate financial inclusion and enable cheaper and faster remittance inflows.”

“Samsung Electronics is reportedly going to be a part of South Korea’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project. Samsung will participate in the Bank of Korea’s (BOK) pilot program with a focus on remittances, according to a report by The Korea Times on Thursday.The electronics giant plans to test the functionality of BOK’s CBDC pilot with its Galaxy smartphone.Specifically, Samsung wants to know whether it is possible to “conduct payments via mobile phones using the digital currency with no internet availability,” according to an unnamed source, cited in the report.”

“The Bank of Ghana (BoG) is making another step towards the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) by partnering with a German currency technology provider. The BoG officially announced Wednesday that it signed an agreement with German banknote and securities printing company Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) to pilot a retail CBDC in Ghana, West Africa. As part of the agreement, G+D will provide its proprietary CBDC solution known as Filia to pilot the issuance of a digital form of Ghana’s national currency, the cedi. The digital currency will be tested in a trial with local banks, merchants, payment service providers and consumers, as well as other related parties.”

“The Bank of Jamaica minted the island nation’s first batch of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) on Monday.  A total of J$230 million, or roughly US$1.5 million, will be issued to deposit-taking institutions and authorized payment service providers as part of the CBDC pilot program that ends in December. In a ceremony, Jamaica Minister of Finance Dr. Nigel Clarke promised that a legislative amendment to accompany the country’s CBDC would be in place by the end of the fiscal year.”

“Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard on Friday laid out a range of reasons for “urgency” around the issue of developing a U.S. central bank digital currency, including the fact that other countries such as China are moving ahead with their own…Fed officials are taking a deep dive into the digital payments universe, collecting public feedback on the potential costs and benefits as well as design considerations with a view to publishing a discussion paper in early September.”

“A new report, titled On the Road to a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency – Challenges and Opportunities, from The Clearing House Association identifies a number of important U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) design options and implementation choices, and outlines important considerations for policymakers.”

“For much of 2021, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been in the headlines for its anti-cryptocurrency measures . Yet, the institution has this week redoubled its investment and research into crypto’s underlying technology, blockchain, and has set a clear date for the pilot scheme of its blockchain-powered central bank digital currency (CBDC). On Oct. 1, CBN will reportedly launch a pilot scheme for “GIANT,” a CBDC project in development since 2017 that runs on the open-source blockchain Hyperledger Fabric.”

“After giving a cold shoulder to cryptocurrencies for years, India’s central bank is finally set to launch its own digital currency, and investors in the country have a reason to cheer. On July 22, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor T Rabi Sankar said the regulatory body is considering introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in a phased manner. A CBDC is a legal tender issued by a central bank in a digital form. In effect, it is just a digital version of the fiat currency, which in India’s case is the rupee.”

“The People’s Bank of China in recent months has accelerated the testing of its digital yuan, putting the operators of Alipay and WeChat Pay in a difficult spot: They have little choice but to take part, despite the risk of eroding the huge user bases they have grown over years. Most of China’s 1.4 billion people use at least one of the private services to make mobile payments.”

“India’s central bank is considering launching a digital currency, according to a top executive, giving a clear indication of its intentions for the first time after previously stating that it was studying the idea. T Rabi Sankar, the deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India, said at a conference today that the central bank is considering introducing the nation’s digital currency in a “phased” manner while legal changes are made to the South Asian nation’s foreign-exchange rules and IT laws. The digital currency, which will be backed by sovereign, will lower the economy’s reliance on cash, enable cheaper and smoother international settlements, and protect people from the volatility of privacy cryptocurrencies, he said.”

“Iberpay in concert with 16 Spanish banks has successfully concluded proof-of-concept trials that tested different design options for a future digital euro. The Smart Money project compared and contrasted different approaches currently under investigation by the European Central Bank, such as token-based and account-based models, DLT technology, online digital money payments and the possibility of making offline payments without internet connection.”