The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced that the second phase of the "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" pilot program will be launched next year. It will explore other new use cases such as enterprise solutions and cross-border payments.

Zhitong Financial APP learned that on October 30, Li Dazhi, vice president of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said that the second phase of the "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" pilot program will be launched in 2024. It will explore other new use cases of digital Hong Kong Dollar and conduct in-depth research on some of the first phase of the pilot program. At the same time, the first track will continue to lay the legal and technical foundation for the possible future issuance of digital Hong Kong dollars. Zhou Huiqiang, Chief Financial Science and Technology Officer of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, pointed out that the second phase will conduct in-depth research on the programmability, tokenization and instant settlement of the digital Hong Kong dollar, and explore other new use cases including enterprises, cross-border payments, blockchain interaction, etc. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority released the "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" Pilot Program Phase I Report on the 30th, examining the local retail use cases of the digital Hong Kong dollar in six areas, including full payment, programmable payment, offline payment, tokenized deposit, third-generation Internet (Web3) transaction settlement and tokenized asset settlement. Zhou Huiqiang mentioned that in view of the fact that the first stage was a small-scale test within a controllable range, the main technical problems found were technical problems, most of which have been solved. However, if the scope of users is expanded, the relevant problems may be magnified. He believes that the digital Hong Kong dollar has certain development potential and will be further explored to study commercial, privacy, security and other issues. Regarding the decision on when to issue the digital Hong Kong dollar as soon as possible, Li Dazhi said that more time is still needed to observe the ecological environment of the entire CBDC (central bank digital currency), and mentioned that the United Kingdom, Singapore, etc. need to prepare on an annual basis. He pointed out that if the digital Hong Kong dollar was issued, the market would be allowed to use creative applications, and more restrictions would weaken its living space. As to whether the digital RMB issued by the mainland will be connected, Li Dazhi said that earlier tests had been conducted to add value to the digital RMB wallet in the mainland with the rapid speed of Hong Kong. The connection between Hong Kong and the digital RMB does not need to be realized through the issuance of digital Hong Kong dollars. If it is issued, it will certainly have a smoother connection with the digital RMB.