⚠️ HRF CBDC ⛓️🪙 alert from HRF for Hong Kong (19-MAR-2024)

🗝️ℹ️ (Key Information)

CBDC Status: Pilot

CBDC Launch: n/a

CBDC Model: n/a

CBDC Issued: n/a

Inflation Rate: 1.88%

One-Sentence Summary:

Hong Kong Monetary Authority's ongoing development of CBDCs raises concerns over potential misuse leading to further infringement on human rights and civil liberties in Hong Kong.

✅🇭🇰 Monetary Authority began trials for a wholesale CBDC, Project LionRock, with banks, and Interbank Clearing Limited in 2017.

✅In 2019, they partnered with the Bank of Thailand for a CBDC prototype, Project Inthanin-LionRock, involving ten banks in testing cross-border payments.

✅A whitepaper released by the 🇭🇰 Monetary Authority in 2021 discusses technical considerations for a retail CBDC focusing on a two-tier distribution model.

✅ “Rail 2 – e-HKD” or “Rail 2 Pilot” program was launched in November 2022, and companies were invited to apply for the pilot until January 2023.

✅16 firms, including Ripple, Visa, Mastercard, were chosen to participate in testing CBDC designs early 2023.

✅ A report released by the 🇭🇰 Monetary Authority in October 2023 emphasized the potential benefits of a CBDC. In response to this, a CBDC Expert Group was designed to explore CBDC issues further.

✅ In 2024, the second phase of the retail CBDC pilot and a new wholesale CBDC project, Project Ensemble, was announced.

✅ Alongside these developments, the Monetary Authority has started Project mBridge with the Bank for International Settlements to address inefficiencies of cross-border payments.

✅ Despite these technical advancements, concerns rise about Hong Kong's deteriorating human rights scenario since China took control.

✅ The heavy crackdown on pro-democracy activists under the 2020 National Security Law and possible misuse of CBDCs for controlling protests further raises questions about CBDCs.

#HongKong #HumanRights #CBDC #DigitalCurrency #CentralBank #MonetaryAuthority #FinancialPrivacy #CivilLiberties

As the 🇭🇰 Monetary Authority advances with the CBDC pilot projects, how do you think the potential benefits of digital currencies balance with the risks of government control and violation of financial privacy in the current political scenario in Hong Kong?

Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated summary of the original text from HRF, forigve fuck-ups plox. If you find it useful, ⚡ the Tracker Bot because the AI and Cloud bits are not free to run.

Source of data: https://cbdctracker.hrf.org/home (npub1zhqcda52mrvcc0vkwegwsp5xtpk6l6x5kqx85f06tu9lw5h6xx0scch0dw)

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