CBDC transactions to top US$213bn worldwide by 2030
The total annual value of transactions made using central bank digital currencies (CBDC) will exceed US$213bn by 2030, up from US$100m in 2023, according to a Juniper Research forecast... More
Digital currency
ANZ to run central bank digital currency pilot at Australian universities
The Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) is to pilot the use of a prototype central bank digital currency (CBDC) for offline transactions using pre-loaded contactless cards at RMIT University in the Australian city of Melbourne and Southern Cross University in New South Wales... More
Bank of England and UK Treasury launch consultation on digital pound
The Bank of England and UK Treasury have launched a consultation on the design of the proposed digital pound and could roll out the central bank digital currency (CBDC) during the second half of the decade, according to bank and government officials... More
India pilots digital rupee for contactless in-store and P2P payments
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is this week launching a pilot scheme in four Indian cities to test the retail version of its prototype central bank digital currency (CBDC) for both in-store and peer-to-peer transactions, the central bank says... More
Spanish banks to pilot digital euro for contactless in-store payments
Some 30 banks and payment services providers in Spain, including BBVA, Banco Sabadell, Banco Santander, ING, Deutsche Bank and Iberpay, have set up a working group to test the use of a digital euro for contactless in-store payments as well as ecommerce transactions and peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers... More
India to begin digital rupee payments pilot ‘within a month’
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has begun testing a prototype wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) and will launch a pilot programme for a retail digital rupee with merchants and consumers in select locations “within a month”, the central bank says... More
JCB to pilot central bank digital currency payments on contactless cards
Japan-based payments network JCB is to run an in-store central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot that uses existing contactless payment cards, point of sale (POS) hardware and softPOS payment acceptance technology installed on mobile devices... More
People’s Bank of China reports on digital yuan uptake
The digital yuan has been used to make 360m transactions worth a total of more than 100bn yuan (US$14bn) since China began piloting the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in December 2019, up from total cumulative transaction values worth 87.6bn yuan (US$12bn) at the end of 2021, according to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)... More
India to pilot digital rupee for payments in stores
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is to build a prototype digital rupee and test it in a range of scenarios and use cases as part of its “phased implementation strategy” for introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
China lets consumers link their bank account to their central bank digital currency app for contactless payments
Chinese consumers in the 23 cities and regions piloting the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) can now automatically transfer funds to their digital yuan wallet app whenever their balance runs low, removing the need to manually top up the balance in their e-yuan app... More
China pilots NFC devices that combine digital currency payments with student IDs
Students attending Hainan Lu Xun Middle School in the Chinese city of Sanya are the first in the country to trial a digital yuan hard wallet device that enables them to make payments to designated merchants on and off the school’s campus using China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) as well as verify their identity using NFC... More
BIS reports on CBDCs in emerging markets
Providing a cash-like digital means of payment, increasing private digital payment services, supporting financial inclusion and achieving greater payment system efficiency are among the key motivations driving initiatives to develop central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in emerging market economies around the world, according to a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) report... More
Riksbank completes digital currency payments pilot
Sweden’s central bank The Riksbank has completed the second phase of its e-krona central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot and demonstrated that the blockchain-based technical solution it is testing can be integrated into existing banking and payments infrastructure... More
Jamaica begins central bank digital currency rollout
Residents of Jamaica can now open a digital wallet that supports the country’s Jam-Dex central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) prepares to launch the CBDC during the April to June quarter... More
Qatar and the Philippines move towards developing CBDCs
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project “in the near term” and the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) is also exploring the possible development of a CBDC in line with its wider payment digitisation plans... More
Bank of Ghana lays out core design principles for CBDC pilot
The Bank of Ghana (BOG) is to pilot a two-tier token-based retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) that can be used with either a digital wallet app managed by a financial institution or a physical hardware wallet such as a contactless smart card that can be used offline and by unbanked consumers... More
President Biden lays out US digital currency strategy
US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order (EO) “outlining the first ever, whole-of-government approach to addressing the risks and harnessing the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying policy” including the possible issuance of a US central bank digital currency (CBDC), the White House says... More
Banco Central do Brasil names CBDC project partners
The Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) has named the partner organisations that will support the next phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project... More
Shake Shack offers customers bitcoin rewards
Customers purchasing food and beverages from Shake Shack outlets in the US using the Cash App payments platform can opt to receive a 15% cashback reward in bitcoin... More
China to roll out next phase of digital yuan testing
China is to launch trials of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) in more cities and regions across the country after rolling out a pilot version of the digital yuan wallet app in January and trialling the CBDC during the Beijing Winter Olympics... More
