Discussion paper on e-HKD from policy and design perspective

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Authored by: Simon Deane and Crystal Choi

On 27 April 2022, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (“HKMA”) issued a discussion paper entitled “e-HKD: A policy and design perspective” (the “Paper”), inviting views from the public and the industry on key policy and design issues for introducing a retail central bank digital currency (rCBDC), i.e. e-HKD, in Hong Kong.

After announcing the “Fintech 2025” strategy in June 2021, the HKMA started a project to study the introducion of an e-HKD in Hong Kong. The initial findings of the first part of the study, which focused on the technical aspects, were published in October 2021 in the form of a technical whitepaper for comments. The whitepaper “e-HKD: A technical perspective” is available here.

The second part of the study focused on the policy and design aspects of introducing the e-HKD, the initial findings of which are set out in the Paper. The issues examined in the study include the potential benefits and challenges, design considerations such as an issuance mechanism, interoperability with other payment systems, privacy and data protection and legal considerations, as well as use cases. To help stakeholders share their views, the HKMA has highlighted the issues for comment in the form of twelve discussion questions in the Paper.

The Paper is available here.

Key Contacts

Simon Deane

Consultant | Banking and Finance

Email or call +852 2825 9209