UAE, China’s central banks join Hong Kong, Thailand’s cryptocurrency project

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced in a joint statement that the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and the Digital Currency Institute of the People’s Bank of China (PBC DCI) have joined the second phase of its central bank digital currency project with the Bank of Thailand (BOT) for cross-border payments.

Mathee Supapongse (left), deputy governor of the Bank of Thailand, and Edmond Lau, senior executive director of the HKMA / Photo credit: HKMA

The Multiple Central Bank Digital Currency (m-CBDC) Bridge Project is a joint effort by HKMA and BOT.

It aims to explore the capabilities of distributed ledger technology (DLT) through the development of a proof-of-concept (PoC) prototype that can facilitate real-time cross-border foreign exchange transactions in a multi-jurisdictional context.

The project also looks to explore business use cases in a cross-border context using both domestic and foreign currencies.

According to the statement, the participating central banks will evaluate the results of the PoC prototype to determine the project’s feasibility for cross-border fund transfers, international trade settlements, and capital market transactions.

The m-CBDC Bridge project, previously called Project Inthanon-LionRock , was completed in December 2019 together with the participation of 10 banks. HKMA and BOT then agreed to proceed with further joint research work on the project, including exploring business cases and connections to other platforms and participation from other banks.