Eddie Yue Wai-Man, Director of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), Hong Kong's de facto central bank, said the HKMA will launch a series of studies with banks and technology firms in the fourth quarter of this year to test the e-HKD, the central bank digital currency (CBDC).
The study is aimed at identifying the most suitable use case for the digital Hong Kong dollar, Hong Kong's South Morning China Post (SCMP) newspaper reported Thursday.
In an interview with SCMP, Yue said that electronic retail payments are well established in Hong Kong. "If we want the public to adopt the e-HKD, we need to have a suitable use case that can show that the CBDC is superior or more convenient, or cheaper" Yue said.
Yue had expressed doubts about the necessity of launching a retail CBDC at a public consultation in April.
