Hong Kong Advances Digital Money Strategy with e-HKD Pilot Phase Two

Hong Kong's monetary authority has taken a decisive step toward reshaping its financial ecosystem with the release of the e-HKD Pilot Programme Phase 2 Report. Supported by Deloitte, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) outlines a vision where distributed ledger technology (DLT) replaces physical cash, positioning the city as a frontrunner in digital finance and tokenization.

The report categorizes digital money into public and private forms, with central bank digital currencies like the e-HKD falling under public money, while tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoins represent private innovations. This framework aims to enable faster, programmable transactions that bridge traditional finance and Web3.

Since 2017, the HKMA has rigorously researched the e-HKD, exploring its applications in both wholesale and retail contexts. Phase 2 expands the focus to compare the e-HKD against private digital money solutions, assessing their practicality and scalability in real-world use cases.