Hong Kong’s Digital Finance Initiatives in the 2024-2025 Budget
Hong Kong is gearing up for significant advancements in Web3 and digital finance, as outlined in the 2024-2025 budget.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan emphasized the city’s commitment to fast-tracking a Web3 sandbox tailored for stablecoins and expanding the digital yuan pilot as integral components of its digital finance policies. The e-HKD, Hong Kong’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), will undergo a new phase exploring additional use cases beyond programmable payments, offline payments, and tokenized deposits. The expansion of the digital yuan pilot will see citizens creating wallets funded through the Faster Payment System, enhancing cross-boundary payment services.
Moreover, the city plans to introduce a sandbox allowing institutions to experiment with issuing stablecoins, ensuring financial stability while fostering innovation. This initiative aims to facilitate trials in the issuance process, business models, investor protection, and risk management systems, contributing to future regulatory discussions. In parallel, efforts are underway to strengthen oversight of cryptocurrency over-the-counter markets, addressing concerns about Chinese mainlanders using these platforms as a gateway for cryptocurrency investments.
Clever Robot News Desk 6th March 2024
