The Bank for International Settlements has slashed its expectation of retail CBDC launches by 2029 to 6 from 11, but it noted that wholesale CBDC pilots have spiked in the past two years.
The Bank of Spain launched two CBDC trials earlier this year and has now announced a third one with IT firm Minsait for secondary market transactions.
The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act will now progress to a Senate vote; With the Senate majority favoring the Democrats and an election looming in, the scheduling of the vote may be crucial.
At a recent BIS event in Basel, Chairman Thomas Jordan discussed Project Helvetia III, including its benefits and some alternative approaches SNB considered.
Valued at $114 million, Lugano's native digital bond will rely on Switzerland's experimental central bank digital currency for settlements.
The Philippine central bank said it would not develop a retail central bank digital currency, and the wholesale CBDC will be deployed on a custom-built infrastructure independent of blockchain technology.
Bank Indonesia's plans for its central bank digital currency, the digital rupiah, will focus on wholesale interbank settlement using blockchain technology.
Bank of Korea is collaborating with LG CNS to develop a CBDC system for tokenized deposits, utilizing LG CNS's expertise, with a KRW 9.68 billion budget and plans for a 2024 trial.
The pilot, dubbed Helvetia Phase III, builds upon two previous studies with collaborations from the Bank for International Settlements and the SIX Digital Exchange.
Project mBridge is inching forward to launching an MVP in 2024, and to achieve this, the Bank for International Settlements is exploring functionalities like platform statistics, queue management, and aligning with the CPMI frameworks.
The Philippines is pressing ahead with its wholesale CBDC project, announcing Hyperledger Fabric as its DLT and unveiling a string of financial institutions that are set to spearhead the pilot.
Project Garuda's second phase will explore CBDC usage in the tokenization and settlement of securities transactions.
