**News Flash: HKMA Expands Digital Dollar Pilot**

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has kicked off the second phase of its digital Hong Kong dollar (e-HKD) pilot, now dubbed Project e-HKD+. This phase involves 21 financial institutions exploring 11 use cases, including tokenized deposits and settlement of tokenized assets.

Key focus areas:

- Settlement of tokenized assets

- Programmability

- Offline payments

Notable participants:

- Hang Seng Bank, Aptos Lab, and BCG will test tokenized fund settlements.

- Visa, ANZ, and Fidelity will explore near-real-time interbank and cross-border payments.

The project will run for about a year and includes a new sandbox for testing. The HKMA also plans to establish an e-HKD Industry Forum for ongoing discussions and has opened applications for a Generative AI sandbox to explore AI in finance.