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"Binance indicated a full audit of its assets and liabilities is some way off amid calls for more transparency following the collapse of rival FTX. The company's goal is to hire an auditor for the whole balance sheet but big accountants are still learning about the crypto sector, which lacks agreed standards for challenges like price volatility, Binance's Asia-Pacific head Leon Foong said."

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) published a paper that explores the potential for central bank digital currency (CBDC) to help promote financial inclusion. It considers how CBDC could leverage digital finance technologies and enhance the reach and value of formal financial products and services among the unbanked or underserved. It also looks at the challenges involved and how these could be addressed. The paper provides recommendations for policy makers and regulators on designing CBDCs, establishing preconditions, and managing risk.

The IMF ran a peer learning event at its Singapore Regional Training Institute on July 6/7 at which Changchun Mu, Director General, Digital Currency Institute at the People's Bank of China gave a presentation on the e-CNY.

"Japanese blockchain firm Soramitsu has reportedly landed feasibility studies for central bank digital currency (CBDC) with both Vietnam and the Philippines. Soramitsu is establishing a considerable footprint in Southeast Asia following its successful implementation of Cambodia's Bakong project in 2020. Last year it also started working with Laos' central bank on a CBDC research project."

"As digital assets transcend national borders, what does this mean for those interested in issuing or participating in a stablecoin project? What are the regulatory questions and other challenges that need to be considered? We take a look at the global picture in this comprehensive analysis."

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), in its 2021 Annual Report, reiterated its assessment that a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) may be more helpful in addressing frictions that affect the efficiency and safety of wholesale payments involving cross-border fund transfers, equity securities transactions settlement and intraday liquidity facilities.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe M. Medalla provided an update to the central bank's digital payments transformation roadmap in which he underscored the lack of interest in issuing retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). He was particularly concerned about the potential loss of payments privacy ("of course, [retail CBDC] saves a lot of money in printing [but] the government will actually know more about you than your wife. In my case, that is not dangerous; there is nothing to know about me. But for many people, that is a bit of a concern. So, all of those things have to be addressed.")

The IMF will be collaborating with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to create a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) aimed at addressing (i) frictions on cross border foreign currency transfers; (ii) settlement risk exposure arising from the use of commercial bank money in the equities market; and (iii) challenges in operating the automated intraday liquidity facility. The BSP has decided that retail CBDC would have limited benefits for the Philippines economy due to widespread digitalization of retail payments and financial inclusion reforms. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2022/12/15/Philippines-2022-Article-IV-Consultation-Press-Release-and-Staff-Report-526983

On October 4, 2021, Soramitsu was selected by the Japan International Cooperation Agency to explore with the Bank of the Lao PDR the potential contribution of CBDC to the inclusive development of the financial system of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

The Executive Council of Macau, a special administrative region (SAR) of greater China, has completed discussing a draft bill proposing to include digital forms of currency as acceptable legal tender. Macau has relatively strong legal tender laws. Anyone who rejects or refuses to accept legal tender in payment will be fined between $123 and $1,237 (1,000 and 10,000 patacas). The bill will now be forwarded to the Legislative Assembly for further deliberations.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) completed its Project Tridecagon proof-of-concept (PoC) probing into the viability of cross-border delivery-versus-payment (DVP) bond settlements using blockchain technology. It connected key market infrastructures: central banks' real-time gross settlement systems (RTGS) and central securities depositories' (CSD) book-entry systems, but did not use central bank digital currency (CBDC). The settlement of cross-border securities transactions was proven in principle and across different vendor solutions, but full application may depend on necessary changes to legal and regulatory prescriptions which could take years.

Thailand's cabinet has approved the exemption of a 7% value-added tax (VAT) on crypto-asset trades on regulated exchanges, from April 2022 until the end of 2023. Also, investors will be able to offset annual losses against crypto-asset profits on regulated exchanges for tax calculations. Transfers of Thai central bank digital currency (CBDC) will also be VAT exempt.

"The governor of the Philippine central bank said in an interview that they are negotiating with various banks and financial institutions to conduct a pilot test of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Q4."

"The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) considering launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is in part a defensive move to protect it and NZ's monetary sovereignty, says RBNZ Director of Money and Cash Ian Woolford."

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) is commencing CBDC proof-of-concept design work, based on public feedback received during a recent consultation. The work will be a multi-stage and multi-year effort, and no specific design decisions have yet been made. The high-level design principles include providing a platform for economic and financial innovation, including competition in the payments and settlement sector, cross-border transfers, and financial inclusion and capability building tools. Also, the RBNZ believes that a CBDC can be designed so that privacy can exist alongside design features that make it hard to be used for nefarious or illegal purposes.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is moving ahead with a research project focused on central bank digital currency (CBDC). The BSP's  exploratory work started in 2021, focusing implications of CBDC for the whole financial system. A national payment system assessment was later conducted which resulted in the identification of relevant use cases of wholesale CBDC aimed at enhancing the payment system's safety, resiliency, and efficiency. As a next step, the BSP targets to roll-out Project CBDCPh aimed at building organizational capacity and hands-on knowledge of key aspects of CBDC that are relevant for a use case around addressing frictions in the national payment system.

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Assistant Governor Brad Jones discussed where the case for a retail CBDC in Australia fits into the wider international debate over the future of money, and provided an update on the RBI's retail CBDC pilot project. On balance, the RBA does not yet see a case for issuing an eAUD, but the central bank is "keeping an open mind" as its eAUD pilot program remains in full swing. The program has not prescribed use cases in advance, instead inviting the applicants (80 of them) to propose their own use cases (140), from which the RBA eAUD project team will select to take forward into the pilot phase in early 2023.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is recommending several phases and "extensive" pilot projects for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) especially in cybersecurity issues, laws and regulations that will cover implementation. A wholesale CBDC is being considered in the Philippines as a possible means to enhance existing payment and settlement functions. While the BSP charter, amended in 2019, does allow for the issuance of wholesale CBDC, the regulatory framework "may need to be revisited to ensure governance and financial stability risks are addressed." https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2022/12/15/Philippines-2022-Article-IV-Consultation-Press-Release-and-Staff-Report-526983