That’s also the direction that Singapore, which decided in 2021 to sit out the global craze for retail CBDCs, has taken with its Project Orchid. The rival Asian financial centres’ experiments with programmable deposits on the blockchain may help set a global trend. From rewarding environment-friendly spending and channeling government grants to deserving beneficiaries, money will do more than just grease commerce.
Late last month, Hong Kong began a second round of pilot programs for e-HKD, a much-awaited electronic version of the island’s banknotes.
The monetary authority also tweaked the name of the project to e-HKD+, a timely acknowledgement that when it comes to giving the city’s residents a new payment option, a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, isn’t the only worthwhile goal. Bank deposits could be tokenised, too.
