The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is to enable participants in the next phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot to test for the first time the use of digital yuan for making both online purchases and touch-based in-store offline payments... More
A single global retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) and a single global 24/7 payment system could be an “optimum solution” as the basis for a new payment model “enhancing market discipline and fairness to all stakeholders”, according to a new paper... More
A digital transaction settlement system being developed by researchers working on Facebook’s Novi cryptocurrency digital wallet app could support up to 160,000 transactions per second, “about 7x the peak transaction rate of the Visa payments network”, according to a paper published by the research team... More
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will keep a database of all transactions made using the digital yuan, China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to China Daily... More
Spanish consumers are set to be able to self-manage their digital identity on their mobile device using a blockchain-enabled platform being developed by a consortium of 10 companies that includes leading Spanish banks Banco Santander, Bankia, CaixaBank, and Liberbank... More
The European Central Bank (ECB) has launched an online survey that enables consumers and industry experts to express their priorities, preferences and concerns about the issuance of a digital euro as a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and means of payment in the euro area... More
Owners of Huawei’s Mate 40 in China will be able to make transactions in digital yuan from a central bank digital currency (CBDC) hardware wallet built into the soon-to-be-released smartphone... More
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has “found counterfeit digital yuan wallets on the market,” the head of the bank’s digital currency research institute Mu Changchun has revealed... More
JPMorgan Chase’s JPM Coin digital currency is now being used commercially for cross-border payments by “a large international technology company”, the US banking giant’s Takis Georgakopoulos has told CNBC... More
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has begun a public consultation on the launch of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that would allow citizens to use “mobile devices and other media” to make payments using a digital ruble... More
Citizens of the Bahamas can now make payments and transfers from a digital wallet using the country’s Sand Dollar central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
China’s ‘red envelope’ lottery giveaway of digital yuan to 50,000 residents of Shenzhen resulted in 62,788 transactions with a total value of 8.764m yuan (US$1.32m) during the week-long central bank digital currency (CBDC) test in the city... More
One hundred employees of Japanese tech giant Fujitsu are taking part in a four-month trial of a blockchain-based interoperable identity verification system that “enables secure transactions involving sensitive user ID information between companies and industries”... More
The Bank of Japan is to begin the first phase of proof-of-concept testing of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in early 2021, according to a statement published by the bank... More
A working group set up by seven central banks and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has laid out a set of ground rules for the successful issuance of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)... More
Consumers in the city of Shenzhen are being offered the opportunity to win one of 50,000 ‘red envelopes’ containing 200 digital yuan (US$29.65) that they can spend at any of more than 3,000 retail outlets in the city that now accept China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
The Bank of Korea (BOK) is to issue and circulate a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in 2021 to test its viability as an alternative to cash and other forms of transaction... More
The introduction of a digital euro “would support Europe’s drive towards continued innovation”, “strengthen the international role of the euro” and provide consumers with “free access to a simple, universally accepted, risk-free and trusted means of payment”, according to a new report published by the European Central Bank (ECB)... More
Buyers of a premium limited-edition gin distilled in Austria will be able to verify a bottle’s authenticity and track how many remain available for sale by using their NFC phone to scan a crypto-enabled NFC chip fitted to the label... More
The Central Bank of The Bahamas is to launch its Sand Dollar central bank digital currency (CBDC) across the entire archipelago in October, after piloting the new e-currency on the islands of Exuma and Abaco... More
