Today the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced the launch of Project Ensemble, a new wholesale central bank digital currency (wholesale CBDC) initiative. The wholesale CBDC will enable interbank settlement for tokenized commercial bank money (tokenized deposits).
The wCBDC Sandbox will be used to trial the settlement of tokenization use cases, including tokenized green bonds such as the recent $756 million issuance by the Hong Kong government. Payments will involve tokenized deposits. Other applications would include settlement for:
The HKMA envisages the possibility of a new financial market infrastructure (FMI) to bridge the gap between tokenization offerings and money. There was no mention of a ‘Unified Ledger‘, the BIS concept that combines different types of regulated tokenized money and assets onto a single ledger. The BIS doesn’t appear to be involved in the latest project, but the HKMA plans to engage other central banks.
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