Hong Kong Monetary Authority: Preparations for the promotion of digital Hong Kong dollars for personal use are expected to be completed in the first half of next year

PANews reported on October 29th that, according to Zhitong Finance, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released the second phase report of its "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" pilot program, outlining the results and lessons learned from the trial. The HKMA stated that it will continue to advance policy, legal, and technical preparatory work to prepare for the potential rollout of the "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" for individual and corporate use in Hong Kong. These preparatory work is expected to be completed by the first half of 2026, and the timing of the expansion of the "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" will be adjusted based on international developments, latest technological advancements, and market demand.

The report shows that the 11 groups of trials in the second phase cover three major themes of innovative use cases, including tokenized asset settlement, programmability, and offline payments. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority stated that the current demand for the "digital Hong Kong dollar" is concentrated outside the retail scenario, so in the future, it will give priority to the development of the "digital Hong Kong dollar" for application at the wholesale level and promote the use of the "digital Hong Kong dollar" for payments among financial institutions. Some financial institutions have already used the "digital Hong Kong dollar" in some use cases to support the development of the tokenized ecosystem and cross-border payment scenarios, such as international trade settlement. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority will publish a set of shared tokenization standards to promote the widespread application of digital currency programmability. These standards aim to lay the foundation for the future development and application of the "digital Hong Kong dollar" to meet the payment needs of individuals and businesses in Hong Kong.