The financial sandbox ar of the Bank of Spain, or Banco de España, has reportedly approved a project from fintech firm Monei testing a token linked to the euro. According to a Jan. 18 report from Spain-based news outlet Cinco Días, the Bank of Spain gave the green light to Monei to issue its EURM token as part of a testing phase expected to last between 6-12 months. The sandbox was aimed at establishing a controlled testing environment for financial innovations projects in Spain under the supervision of central bank authorities. As part of EURM’s testing phase, eligible Spanish residents …

South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor Lesetja Kganyago highlighted issues surrounding the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023, held in Davos, Switzerland. In a WEF 2023 panel discussion dubbed “In the Face of Fragility: Central Bank Digital Currencies” Kganyago voiced his opinions on CBDCs and questioned if there’s a real problem solved by this new technology. Kganyago said: "Is this a solution looking for a problem or do we have some real problem that we are trying to solve?" The central bank governor also highlighted that the countries which are researching and …

Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England (BoE) governor, expressed skepticism on the need for a digital pound shortly after finance ministers from eurozone countries backed further work on a digital euro. The BoE governor recently questioned the need for a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) citing that there already is a “wholesale central bank money settlement system with a major upgrade.” In addition, Bailey also expressed that there are no plans to abolish cash when it comes to retail use. The BoE governor does not believe that retail payments need to change at the moment. He explained: “We have …

The Eurogroup, consisting of all the finance ministers from the euro-zone countries, released a statement Jan. 16 on the introduction of the digital euro, after meeting in Brussels. The group meets regularly to discuss political dimensions of the potential digital currency, it said. The statement release coincides with the release of a European Central Bank (ECB) “stock taking” document detailing the progress of digital euro design. The Eurogroup statement addressed the need for the European Central Bank and European Commission to inform the Eurogroup and EU member states of developments in the creation of the digital euro, which is in …

Central banks worldwide are pushing forward with digital asset projects despite the various crypto industry implosions over the past 12 months. China has rolled out its central bank digital currency (CBDC) to several cities, and it was available for use at the Winter Olympics. Many other central banks, including the Bank of England, are considering how to roll out a CDBC, while Nigeria’s CBDC has had poor uptake so far. India has already launched a pilot scheme, while Mexico has confirmed the launch of a digital peso. However, Tony Yates, Financial Times writer and former senior advisor to the Bank …

Tanzania's central bank says it is still considering the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) but will be a taking "phased, cautious and risk based approach" after identifying several challenges that could impact its implementation. According to a Jan. 14 public notice from The Bank of Tanzania, since its 2021 announcement about a possible CBDC rollout, the East African country formed a multidisciplinary technical team to explore the risks and benefits of CBDCs. The bank revealed its team has conducted research looking into different types of CBDCs, models for issuance and management and whether it could be token-based …

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) and associated organizations marshalled a sizable team of researchers in four low- and middle-income countries – India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Mexico – to study inclusion issues related to retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) design. They released the results of their 15-month research project Jan. 13. In spite of a growing body of work related to CBDC, “few if any proponents have offered practical insight into how CBDC will promote greater access to financial services,” the DCI, along with the MIT Media Lab and Maiden Labs, claimed. The authors considered …

Economists at the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) took a look at the risks inherent in the crypto ecosystem and came up with a seemingly novel solution. “Develop an alternative,” they advised in a bulletin released Jan. 12. What they had in mind was central bank digital currency (CBDC). The authors of the bulletin, headed by BIS senior economist Matteo Aquilina, said they sought lessons from the crypto winter that descended in 2022. The recent failures in crypto asset markets underscore the need to address the risks presented by crypto before those markets become “systemic,” they said. Both centralized and …

Nigeria’s central bank will explore the adoption of blockchain technology to power a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the potential of stablecoin adoption and regulatory considerations of initial coin offerings (ICOs) over the next two years. These are the key takeaways of a policy document titled Nigeria Payments System Vision 2025, published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The 83-page document touches on a variety of implications for its existing payments landscape, with blockchain-based systems coming to the fore. The document delves into the implications of a blockchain-based CBDC, outlining 11 potential advantages of such an offering. This includes …

The People’s Bank of China, or PBoC, has begun including the country’s central bank digital currency, the e-CNY, in reports measuring the amount of currency in circulation. According to a 2022 financial statistics report released on Jan. 10, the PBoC said there was 13.61 billion digital yuan — roughly $2 billion at the time of publication — in circulation as of Dec. 31. The currency in circulation grew at a rate of 15.3% in December 2022, with the broad money supply reported to be 266.43 trillion yuan. The PBoC reported adding the digital yuan to its figures had not caused …

The City of London has teamed up with a variety of trade associations to form the UK Forum for Digital Currencies, an alliance that will advocate for “better policies, practice and regulation around digital currencies,” according to a statement released by the five members. Besides the City of London Corporation, the city’s municipal governing body, members of the forum include the Digital Pound Foundation, the Payments Association, CityUK and UK Finance. The latter three organizations are national financial and professional advocacy groups that have previously been engaged in crypto research and advocacy. The forum members will collaborate on an industry-wide …

The United Kingdom remains committed to becoming a world crypto industry hub in spite of the recent negative events that have occurred on the market. It is “the sector I have dedicated the most time to,” Member of Parliament and HM Treasury Economic Secretary Andrew Griffith told a meeting of the UK Parliament Treasury Committee on Jan. 10, underscoring that commitment. The introduction of a wholesale stablecoin and the Financial Markets Infrastructure (FMI) sandbox will be next steps in the process. Those elements are included in the Financial Services and Markets (FSM) bill, which will have its second reading in …