Hong Kong and Singapore will play key roles in central bank digital currency (CBDC) research being conducted by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
The BIS, known as the central bank of central banks, has announced that CBDC research will be a top priority in the coming year for its Innovation Hub, which has centers in Hong Hong, Singapore and Switzerland that have been established in conjunction with local central banks, Cointelegraph reports.
According to its annual work program, the Innovation Hub plans to “explore the feasibility of faster and cheaper cross-border payments” using central bank digital currencies and explore prototypes of “tiered retail CBDC distribution architectures” and distributed ledgers to issue “tokenized green bonds to retail investors.”
The center in Singapore will build an “international settlement platform” on which regulated banks and payment firms can settle transactions using CBDCs.
The Hong Kong center will work on the green bond tokenization project, build a bridge to facilitate foreign exchange transactions using CBDCs, and explore different models for stablecoin issuance.
Project chief Benoît Cœuré, said, “This work program shows our commitment to exploring in the most practical ways how best to harness technological change for the benefit of central banks and create public goods to support the global financial system.”