Today the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the Bank of Israel (BoI) and the BIS Innovation Hub, published a joint central bank digital currency (CBDC) report on Project Sela. Like most CBDC projects, it involves a public-private partnership. However, a key focus was to expand the range of intermediaries who enable consumers to access the retail CBDC. In other words, they don’t just want to use banks and major payment providers.
“Competition and innovation require a flourishing and open ecosystem with many different types of service providers,” said Mr Andrew Abir, Deputy Governor of the BOI. “This was our initial goal in Project Sela as a proof-of-concept, and the project proved the feasibility of the model we had in mind.”
Previously, Hong Kong’s Project Aurum had the central bank operate a wholesale ledger for the eHKD, and retail banks dealt with all customer facing issues. In contrast, Project Sela has the central bank operate the retail ledger.
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