HKMA Forms Working Group to Establish Wholesale CBDC Interoperability Standards
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has announced the formation of a working committee to set industry standards for wholesale CBDC interoperability and facilitate tokenized asset transactions and interbank settlement using wCBDC. The group, called Project Ensemble Architecture Community, will also assist in the implementation of the Sandbox, which is set to launch by mid-2024. The Sandbox will allow for further research and testing of tokenization use cases.
The committee is made up of experts who have contributed to the development of the tokenization market in Hong Kong. This includes representatives from regulators, banks, academia, crypto firms, and more. Initial members of the committee include the HKMA, the Securities and Futures Commission, the Hong-Kong arm of BIS Innovation Hub, CBDC Expert Group, and private banks and firms such as Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered Hong Kong, HashKey Group, and Microsoft Hong Kong.
Project Ensemble, the wholesale CBDC launched by HKMA in March, aims to boost Hong Kong’s financial industry. Eddie Yue Wai-man, Chief Executive of the HKMA, highlighted Hong Kong’s commitment to innovation and invited international collaboration from industry experts to participate in tokenization.
In addition to the establishment of the working group, HKMA is also progressing with its e-HKD pilot program. The central bank recently announced the launch of phase 2, which focuses on exploring programmability, tokenization, and atomic settlement of a digital Hong Kong dollar. Phase 1 of the program, which concluded in October 2023, successfully tested the use of e-HKD for domestic retail purposes, including programmable payments and offline transactions.
