​The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has released a technical document on CBDC

What's new? Hong Kong has published a technical document on the electronic Hong Kong dollar (e-HKD). The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HMA) regulation outlines the technical aspects of CBDC and policy considerations, including transaction tracking and confidentiality.

CBDC technical document

What is the point of the document? In the project “e-HKD: a technical perspective”, the bank considers potential architectures and design options that can be applied in creating infrastructure for the distribution of e-HKD. The Monetary Authority has joined forces with regulators in other countries to explore the possibility of using digital currency in cross-border payments.

CBDC has been studied for four years, but the HKMA started working on the project only in June this year. In October, the regulator announced the launching of the national digital currency.

What problems can arise? The document lists some of the difficulties that the bank may face in issuing CBDC. Among them is ensuring a balance between confidentiality and traceability, including issues related to anonymity. HKMA aims to get rid of excessive digital currency issuance, synchronization of cross-registers, and preservation of confidentiality while maintaining traceability. There is also a need to study the interaction with existing systems and to work on scalability, productivity and cybersecurity.