Australia Delays CBDC Introduction Due to Unresolved Issues, Says Central Bank
Australia's central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), has announced that it will not be making any decisions on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for several years due to unresolved issues. The decision was made after a year-long research project conducted by the RBA and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) around the payments system.
RBA Completes CBDC Pilot, Points to Use Cases Like Smart Payments and Asset Tokenization
On August 23, Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) released a report stating that the Reserve Bank of Australia has completed a pilot of central bank digital currency (CBDC) and explored potential use cases for an electronic Australian dollar.
Russian Analyst Claims Digital Ruble Offers No Benefits to Citizens
A recent column by Russian analyst Anastasia Tselykh asserts that the country's central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital ruble, does not provide significant advantages for ordinary citizens.
Mastercard Is Developing a Way To Bring CBDC On-Chain
Raj Dhamodharan, Executive Vice President of MasterCard, stated in an interview with The Block that the company plans to introduce central bank digital currency (CBDC) onto the blockchain. They are developing a method to allow users to obtain CBDC, package it, bring it onto the public chain, and use it to purchase NFTs.
Ripple in Talks With RBNZ Over CBDC Development on XRPL
According to Coinmarketcap, Ripple is reportedly in talks with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC) on the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The discussions aim to explore the potential of using XRPL to develop CBDCs.
Grayscale Predicts CBDC Support from Next US President, Finds Consensus on Crypto Stance
Crypto asset manager Grayscale has predicted that the next President of the United States will be supportive of the development and implementation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). In a blog post, Grayscale noted that leading candidates from both political parties, including Joe Biden and Donald Trump, have expressed their favorable stance towards CBDCs. However, while they seem to agree on CBDCs, both candidates have shown less enthusiasm for Bitcoin.
Bank of Russia unveils official logo and commission fees for digital currency project
The Bank of Russia has unveiled the official logo for its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project and released commission fee rates that will only exceed zero points in 2025. The logo features an international ruble symbol in a circle and comes in four color combinations. Until the end of 2024, all CBDC services will be free, but starting in 2025, B2B transactions will cost 15 rubles ($0.16) each, while individuals will pay 0.3% of the total transaction sum when transferring to commercial accounts and 0.2% when paying for civil services. The digital ruble bill was signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 24, with the CBDC officially scheduled to take effect from Aug. 1, 2023.
Digital Dollar Project Completes Pilot Study of Remittance Payments to Philippines Using Simulated CBDC
The Digital Dollar Project (DDP) has completed a pilot study of remittance payments to the Philippines using a simulated retail central bank digital currency (rCBDC), with Western Union and BDO Unibank as partners. The study used a version of the DDP's Champion Model, in which a simulated central bank issued CBDC to an intermediary bank, which provided access to it to Western Union for remittance to a BDO Unibank customer in the Philippines. The transaction used central bank money for the entirety of the transaction, in contrast to current practice. The use of distributed ledger technology allowed for simultaneous transfer of message and value, and the authors concluded that CBDCs present an opportunity to modernize processes and promote efficiencies for private sector companies and their customers.
MIT's Digital Currency Initiative introduces PARSEC platform for CBDCs and smart contracts
MIT's Digital Currency Initiative has launched an open-source platform called PARSEC, designed with central bank digital currency (CBDC) in mind. The platform supports ERC-20 tokens and can handle cross-border contracting, making it suitable for supply chains and compliance checks. PARSEC performed 118,000 ERC-20 transactions per second on 128 hosts, exceeding public permissionless blockchains. However, the developers noted that the platform required further research in areas such as security, key management, and data migration tooling, and privacy remained an open question.
Over 15% of Countries Worldwide in Talks with Ripple for CBDC Adoption
Blockchain technology company Ripple is actively engaged in discussions with over 30 countries regarding the adoption of its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) platform, according to James Wallis, Ripple's Vice President of Central Bank Engagements and CBDCs. The company has already announced partnerships with five countries, with an additional five being pursued discreetly. In addition, Ripple is in discussions with more than 20 other countries considering adoption of its CBDC platform, with the option for a private or public implementation of XRP.
