The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has released the first phase report of the "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" Pilot Plan. As reported by Odaily, the trial phase of the plan has demonstrated potential unique benefits of the digital Hong Kong dollar in three key areas: programmability, tokenization, and instantaneous settlement.
The ability to digitize the Hong Kong dollar could facilitate faster, more cost-effective, and inclusive transactions while also enabling newer economic activities. However, since pilot program trials took place on a small scale within a controlled environment, the HKMA maintains that further study and evaluation are necessary to confirm whether the benefits identified can be applied to bigger, real scenarios.
The HKMA has yet to make a decision on the official launch of the digital Hong Kong dollar. The Authority will use the experience and results from the first phase to refine possible implementation strategies. The next phase of the project will involve exploratory studies on new use cases for the digital Hong Kong dollar and deeper analysis of the trial results.
