The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has embarked on a groundbreaking collaboration with the European Central Bank (ECB) to explore the digital euro project, marking its first participation outside the EU.
Partnering with the Banque de France (BDF), HKMA aims to test interoperability between their respective wholesale CBDC infrastructures – BDF’s DL3S2 and HKMA’s Ensemble Sandbox.
The focus is on enhancing real-time cross-border and cross-currency payments efficiency, and fostering interoperability between financial market infrastructures across jurisdictions.
Denis Beau, first deputy governor of BDF, emphasized the initiative’s goal to improve cross-border payments, leveraging tokenized forms of the Hong Kong dollar and Euro through payment versus payment mechanisms.
HKMA’s Project Ensemble, initiated in March, underscores their commitment to exploring tokenization use cases like green bonds, carbon credits, and other real-world assets.
Howard Lee, deputy chief executive of HKMA, expressed optimism about collaborating with BDF to advance global tokenization and promote financial market connectivity through innovative cross-border payment solutions.
Visa has introduced the Tokenised Asset Platform (VTAP), allowing financial institutions to create and manage fiat-backed tokens, including stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
Financial institutions in North America, Europe, and Asia are preparing to take part in upcoming digital asset trials orchestrated by SWIFT.
The CEO of PayPal has revealed that the company is actively exploring the role of cryptocurrency in shaping the future of commerce and payment processing.
SG Forge, part of Société Générale, revealed on Friday its plans to launch the EUR CoinVertible (EURCV), a euro-pegged stablecoin, on the Solana blockchain.