Hong Kong Central Bank releases e-HKD whitepaper

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has published a technical whitepaper on retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), strengthening its position to launch a digital fiat.

Titled ‘e-HKD: A technical perspective’, the whitepaper explores the idea and feasibility of launching a digital Hong Kong dollar (e-HKD) for its domestic and cross-border markets.

The whitepaper came after the de facto central bank confirmed in mid-2021 that it is planning to study a CBDC for local and retail usage. The HKMA, however, was a part of researching wholesale usage of CBDCs with a consortium of other international counterparts since 2017.

The monetary regulator is jointly working on the building model of the CBDC with the Hong Kong Centre of the BIS Innovation Hub. According to the HKMA, it is one of the first CBDC whitepapers to unveil a technical architecture of a potential digital fiat.