20 JUNE 2023
By: Jasmine Anand
Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are a form of digital currency issued by a nation’s central bank. They are similar to cryptos, except that their value is fixed by the central bank and equivalent to the country's fiat currency.
The RBI came up with the concept of the digital rupee for the wholesale segment on 1 November 2022, followed by the first pilot for the retail digital rupee a month after, i.e., on 1 December.
India
Thailand’s banking regulator, Bank of Thailand, has confirmed its interest in CBDCs by announcing a pilot program for a digital baht. The pilot on retail CBDC is scheduled to run between June and August.
Thailand
Recently, Brazil announced participants for its central bank digital currency pilot. Many prominent companies like Visa and Microsoft are participating.
Brazil
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has unveiled the commencement of its CBDC pilot programme for the e-HKD. In the coming months, various banks & payment firms Bank of China, HSBC, Ripple Labs, Visa & Mastercard will collaborate across various use cases.
Hong Kong
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced a pilot phase for its digital version of the Australian dollar called the eAUD. It has invited a small number of companies to help explore 14 use cases, like facilitating offline payments to tokenised invoices for businesses & even livestock auctions.
Australia