The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" Pilot Project, and 16 selected companies will conduct the first round of trials within this year

16 companies mainly from traditional finance and payment industries.

Source: Hong Kong Monetary Authority official website

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced today (May 18) the launch of the "Cyber Hong Kong Dollar" Pilot Scheme (the Pilot Scheme). 16 selected companies from the financial, payment and technology sectors will conduct the first round of trials this year to conduct in-depth research on the potential use cases of the "Cyber Hong Kong Dollar" in six areas, including comprehensive payment, programmable payment, offline payment, and tokenized deposits , third-generation Internet (Web3) transaction settlement and tokenized asset settlement.

The HKMA is preparing for the possible launch of a central bank digital currency at the retail level (i.e. "Digital Hong Kong Dollar") in a three-track approach. The pilot program is an important part of the second track. The HKMA will work closely with different stakeholders in the pilot project and conduct a series of experiments to jointly explore the application scenarios of "Cyber Hong Kong Dollar" and related implementation and design issues. Through trial and error, the HKMA can learn from the results of each trial and refine the ways in which a "digital Hong Kong dollar" might be implemented. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has not yet made a decision on whether to officially launch the "Digital Hong Kong Dollar".

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority officially launched the "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" pilot project

High-level representatives from 16 selected companies from the financial, payment and technology sectors attended the event

Senior representatives of the 16 selected companies attended the launch ceremony of the pilot scheme. During the event, selected companies presented highlights of their proposed use cases. The HKMA will work closely with the selected companies in the coming months to conduct the trials and monitor their progress. The HKMA expects to share the experience learned from the trials with the public at Hong Kong Fintech Week 2023, but the actual results of the trials may change over time. The HKMA also expects to conduct more rounds of trials jointly with the industry in the future.

In order to promote cooperation between the government, industry and academia in central bank digital currency (CBDC) research, the HKMA plans to set up a CBDC expert group. The expert panel will consist of leading academics from local universities who will provide valuable input to support Hong Kong in continuing to explore key policy and technical issues of CBDC, such as privacy protection, cybersecurity and connectivity.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Eddie Yue delivered an opening speech at the event, launching the "Cyber Hong Kong Dollar" pilot project

Mr Yue Wai-man, Chief Executive of the HKMA, said: "While the HKMA has not yet decided whether or when the 'CyberHKD' will be launched, we are delighted to launch the 'CyberHKD' Pilot Programme. Prepare for the possible launch of the "Cyber Hong Kong Dollar" in the future. We thank the industry for actively participating in the experiment and look forward to the results of the experiment. We are also happy to see a number of academic experts participating in the CBDC research. By promoting cooperation between the government, industry and academia, we hope Research and development work that keeps pace with the times and translates its gains into tangible business opportunities.”