Recently, the Banque de France (BDF) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced a partnership to jointly work on the research and development of wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenization of financial assets. This cooperation is seen as an important milestone in financial innovation and enhancing the interoperability of digital currencies.
The participation of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is said to mark an important development on the international financial stage. As one of the first non-Eurosystem central bank institutions to join the ECB’s Eurosystem exploratory work, this step highlights the HKMA’s leadership in promoting financial innovation and digital currencies.
At the same time, through this cooperation, HKMA not only strengthened its ties with global financial regulators, but also demonstrated its initiative and openness in exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and the tokenization of financial assets.
Collaborating to promote interoperability of CBDCs
Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the Banque de France (BDF) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) are jointly committed to promoting research on wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenization technologies. The signing of this memorandum not only deepens the communication and cooperation between the two institutions, but also lays a solid foundation for the further development of financial technology.
At the same time, as pioneers in the CBDC field, BDF and HKMA will also focus on the interoperability between Singapore BDF's DL3S infrastructure and HKMA's Project Ensemble Sandbox in this cooperation. HKMA's previously announced "Project Integration" plan aims to explore an innovative financial market infrastructure that uses wholesale CBDC for interbank settlement of tokenized currencies.
In addition, the experiment is aimed at improving the settlement efficiency of international transactions and enhancing the interoperability between financial market infrastructures in different jurisdictions, thereby promoting closer integration and more efficient operation of global financial markets.
Global interest in CBDCs is rising
Global interest in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) is growing rapidly. According to statistics, 94% of central banks are actively exploring the potential of digital currencies to meet the challenges of private digital currencies and maintain competitiveness.
In addition, under the current economic development situation, the joint research between the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows that both sides are actively promoting and supporting the development of CBDC, which also highlights the importance and potential of CBDC in promoting the modernization of the financial system and improving the efficiency of cross-border transactions.
At the same time, BIS also specifically supports tokenization initiatives, which is the conversion of physical assets into digital tokens on the blockchain. This process aims to improve the efficiency, transparency and security of financial transactions. BIS tokenization projects, such as the Promissa project and Aurum, focus on exploring the digitization of financial instruments and the application of CBDC in privacy protection.
At present, most central banks prefer to develop wholesale CBDC, which is mainly suitable for large transactions between financial institutions. In contrast, retail CBDC, that is, digital currency for ordinary people, has not yet become mainstream.
Regulators believe that wholesale CBDC is less likely to cause risks to the stability of the financial system than retail CBDC. Therefore, the possibility of issuing wholesale CBDC is higher than that of retail CBDC in the next six years.
Conclusion
The collaboration between the Bank of France and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority is a microcosm of global financial regulators exploring the potential of digital currencies and tokenization technologies. With the rising global interest in CBDCs and the support of international organizations, the next few years are expected to be a critical period for the development of these innovative technologies. #合作备忘录 #CBDC #代币化 #央行数字货币
