Financial encyclopedia

Digital Hong Kong dollars? Is it different from electronic payment?

2023-05-23

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched the "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" pilot scheme. Six selected companies from the financial, payment and technology sectors conducted the first trial this year, and conducted in-depth research in six areas:

Full payment
Programmable payment
Offline payment
Token deposit
The Third Generation Internet (Web3) Transaction Settlement
Tokenized asset settlement

"Digital Hong Kong dollar" is a kind of digital currency (CBDC) of the central bank, that is, legal tender issued by the central bank in digital form, which belongs to the direct liabilities of the central bank as well as physical banknotes, and is also equipped with all basic functions, namely payment, stored value and accounting unit.

The biggest difference from the current electronic payment is that
(such as fast revolution, Octopus, Alipay, etc.)

Deposits in "electronic payment instruments" are recorded in the books of financial institutions such as banks or issuing operators.

The "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" is guaranteed by the HKMA,
There will be no losses due to the bankruptcy of electronic payment service providers.

Raymond Yue, president of the HKMA, said
Although the HKMA has not decided whether or when to launch a "digital Hong Kong dollar", it is a good opportunity for the HKMA and the industry to jointly explore innovative use cases and prepare for the possible launch of a "digital Hong Kong dollar" in the future.



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