Hong Kong will further its central bank digital currency ambitions with the launch of a new sandbox.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has launched the «Project Ensemble Sandbox», according to a government statement. The initiative will allow financial institutions to experiment with the use of its wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDC).
The initial focus will be on transactions involving tokenized assets under four main themes: fixed income and investment funds, liquidity management, green and sustainable finance, and trade and supply chain finance.
In the first round of experiments, the sandbox will involve 25 participants. This includes financial institutions like HSBC, Standard Chartered and BlackRock as well as non-financial firms like Hong Kong and China Gas Company, also known as Towngas.
