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China is on track with its central bank digital currency trial as final stages are ‘not very far away,’ says ex-PBoC governor . China is approaching the end of its multi-year digital yuan pilot as the “final stage is not very far away,” said Zhou Xiaochuan, who ruled the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) for 16 years up to 2018. According to a report from the South China Morning Post, the former Governor of PBoC noted in his speech at a conference in Hong Kong that the country has already digitized up to 90% of retail payments. Xiaochuan also addressed the international use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), saying cross-border payments are a “big business opportunity for many central bankers to consider and to explore.” In addition to international payments, there are also cases where CBDCs could be used for assets tokenization through smart contracts, Xiaochuan said without elaborating on the matter. You might also like: Sta...

Participants will be restricted to using the CBDC only for payment, without an option to store, exchange or send it to other users. The Bank of Korea (BOK) — South Korea’s central bank — has said it will invite 100,000 Korean citizens to purchase goods with deposit tokens as part of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot. The testing will start “around September to October” of 2024 and last for three months.  According to a Korea Times report from Nov. 23, participants will be restricted to using the CBDC only for payment, without an option to store, exchange or send it to other users. The goal of the pilot stage is to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of issuing and distributing the currency. The BOK will also collaborate with the Korea Exchange to integrate its new digital currency into a simulation system for carbon emissions trading to test the feasibility of delivery versus payment transactions. The BOK statement cited by the newspaper said: “[...] The pilot pr...

Guests on Hashing It Out episode 31 believe that traditional finance has hurt innovation in the African fintech space, and cryptocurrency can breathe some life into the space. Ahead of the Africa Money and DeFi Summit, Hashing It Out host Elisha Owusu Akyaw (GhCryptoGuy) speaks with Andrew Fassnidge, founder of Africa Tech Summit, and Enoch Antwi, CEO of Dnar, on the intersection between crypto currency developments on the African continent and the financial technology sector. Fassnidge shares his experience from the perspective of an investor and conference organizer who has seen the genesis of multiple unicorns on the content, and Antwi offers his thoughts from the perspective of a founder in both sectors.  Andrew Fassnidge, founder of Africa Tech Summit, opens the podcast with an explanation of the state of fintech in Africa. Fassnidge explains that despite the growth of financial technology applications on the continent, the rise of failed startups that raised huge capital has c...

The Central Bank of Russia also hopes to interlink its CBDC with the payment systems of China, India, and the UAE. Russia’s central bank is considering 2025 as the year when its digital ruble (a local central bank digital currency, CBDC) will be widely used in the country. Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported the news, citing the first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, Olga Skorobogatova. As per her words, the financial regulator sees a digital ruble as an addition to its current set of payment methods: the Faster Payments System, the country’s Mir payment cards, QR code/NFC payments, biometrics-based payments, and cash. You might also like: Swift to beta test CBDC interlinking solution with central banks It is yet to be seen if Russia eventually plans to oblige its citizens to accept state salaries, pensions, or social security benefits using only the CBDC. Previously, it happened with Mir, a state-run card payment system the country launched in 2...

If the soon-to-be-released BRICS currency is considered a threat to the U.S. dollar, then the CBDC could be its death knell. Out of 195 countries in the world, 130 nations are moving towards building their Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Therefore, 98% of the world is looking to launch their respective CBDC currency making it easier to settle cross-border transactions. Also Read: 41 Countries Ready To Accept BRICS Currency a Month Before Summit Among the 130 countries, a dozen nations have reached advanced phases and are moving towards launching their digital currency assets. A total of 11 countries, including many Caribbean nations and Nigeria have already launched their CBDC pilot program. A report from the Washington D.C.-based think tank Atlantic Council shows that only 35 countries considered CBDC in 2020. The dramatic rise is putting the U.S. dollar in jeopardy as countries could end reliance on the greenback and consider CBDC s. Also Read: 8 Fina...

Fanusie doesn’t believe the Chinese-led CBDC movement on the global stage will replace the U.S. dollar, but it may cause a series of geopolitical headaches. A cryptocurrency researcher and former CIA analyst believes the United States government’s relatively slow start on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) development may result in it losing grip on controlling the global financial system. Yaya Fanusie, the policy head at the crypto advocacy group the Crypto Council for Innovation explained in a Feb. 28 Bloomberg interview that sanctioned states are looking to transact on financial infrastructure that isn’t controlled or heavily influenced by the U.S. in order to move funds more freely cross-borders. If the U.S. continues to sit on the “sidelines” and lag behind on CBDC adoption, Fanusie believes this may spell “trouble” and cause unforeseen “geopolitical implications” over time: Fanusie explained that state-issued CBDCs could be a part of this financial infrastructure that becomes...