The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced the implementation of its e-HKD pilot programme on 18 May 2023. Sixteen firms will participate in the pilot programme’s first round which will examine the e-HKD’s proposed uses including programmable payments (such as prepaid services, merchant reward programmes, investment and government grant disbursements), offline payments, settlement of tokenised assets and Web3 transactions and full-fledged payments. Key lessons from the e-HKD pilot programme are expected to be made known during Hong Kong Fintech Week 2023. The HKMA intends to conduct further rounds of pilots in future, but notes that it is not yet in a position to decide whether or not to introduce the Hong Kong central bank digital currency.
