Hong Kong regulator and PBOC jointly test government stablecoins – Bits Media

Hong Kong regulators, together with the People's Bank of China and other central banks, have joined the "Multiple CBDC Bridge" initiative to test government-owned digital currencies..

Hong Kong Monetary Authority (Hkma) closely monitors development of central bank digital currencies, actively participates in testing the digital yuan (e-CNY) and digital Hong Kong dollar (e-HKD), and also examines their possible consequences for the Hong Kong economy. Forbes edition
mining farms ceased operations after inspections by government agencies, that the HKMA is collaborating with the Hong Kong Innovation Center of the Bank for International Settlements (TO) for the development of e-HKD. The digital Hong Kong dollar will be an analogue of the national currency, which can be used for settlements and payments.

People's Bank of China (NSC) also signed a memorandum of understanding with HKMA, by joining an international initiative of central banks to explore government-owned digital currencies called the “Multiple CBDC Bridge” (m-CBDC Bridge). Project participants included the Bank of Thailand and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates.

“With the m-CBDC Bridge, we intend to create an environment for central banks to collaborate with the private sector, banks and international corporations to further explore the possibilities of distributed ledger technology. DLT will improve the efficiency of settlements and cross-border payments. Our joint efforts give us confidence, what solutions, created as part of this project, will take into account the needs of different market participants", - said HKMA Deputy Howard Lee (Howard Lee).

Chairman of the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) Lawrence Lee (Laurence Li) also commented on this initiative. He considers, that central bank digital currencies will become more environmentally friendly and secure than conventional money. Considering, that polymers are used in the production of banknotes to combat counterfeiting, These bills are very difficult to recycle.

State digital currencies have clear advantages over cryptocurrencies, Lee said. Due to the lack of intrinsic value of digital assets, their high volatility and large amounts of electricity, spent in their extraction, cryptocurrencies are unlikely to become tools, which will be used in daily economic activities.

Recall, that in October the HKMA had already published a White Paper describing the potential of a digital Hong Kong dollar. Besides, in May, the department announced the successful completion of the first phase of testing of the state digital currency.