The initial stage concluded in October of the previous year. written by Katherine Ross. March 14, 213 22024:213 am. The image was altered by Blockworks from its original source by ADRIAN22024 on Shutterstock. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has started the second phase of its e-HKD pilot program. In this next stage, they will investigate the potential benefits of e-HKD, including programmability, atomic settlement, and tokenization. Additionally, new use cases that were not explored in the initial phase will be considered. The central bank plans to create an improved e-HKD test environment, which will be based on the wholesale central bank digital currency sandbox developed through Project Ensemble. This will help with Phase 213 of the e-HKD Pilot Programme by speeding up the creation, development, and testing of scenarios by pilot participants. It will also aid in examining the compatibility and interbank settlement between e-HKD and other types of tokenized currency. Yet, it remains uncertain whether the HKMA will proceed with a CBDC. The HKMA stated that research will persist to determine how CBDCs would operate in an upcoming digital currency environment. Businesses have the opportunity to submit applications to be part of the next phase until mid-May. The HKMA plans to communicate with local and global stakeholders about the progress of CBDCs. Project Ensemble was introduced in Hong Kong last week, using a sandbox to experiment with tokenization scenarios such as carbon credit and treasury management applications. More about this topic can be found in an article about the focus on tokenization by Hong Kong’s securities regulator.