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Singapore has been named the world's top nation in terms of digital adoption and which showcases the most favorable environment for digitalization, according to Cisco's annual Digital Readiness Index. The index, which measures digital readiness of countries based on seven components: ease of doing business, human capital, startup environment, technology adoption and technology infrastructure, ranked Singapore as the world's most well prepared country for digitalization.

Bakkt announced the launch of the Bakkt App, a digital wallet that brings together bitcoin and other forms of digital assets into one platform. The Bakkt App gives consumers the power to convert participating rewards points to cash or using bitcoin as payment, for example - all within one user-friendly application. Bakkt estimates that there are over $1.2 trillion in digital assets currently held in cryptocurrencies, loyalty and rewards points, and gift cards. Bakkt's goal is to make all digital assets as liquid as any fiat currency.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) published a white paper on its e-CNY central bank digital currency (CBDC). Among other things, it confirmed that it will be issued by the central bank and commercial banks merely distribute it, so it is not a "synthetic" CBDC. The paper outlines the primary objectives of the digital yuan, the first being to ensure financial inclusion and provide a public good digital cash while physical cash usage declines. The second objective is to promoting fair competition and interoperability between different forms of digital cash. It differentiates the e-CNY from other digital payment tools as being legal tender, not requiring a bank account, supporting offline payments and providing managed anonymity. The whitepaper states that the CBDC is "mainly" designed for domestic use, but it will be usable across borders, while acknowledging monetary sovereignty issues and the principle of "no detriment". http://www.pbc.gov.cn/en/3688110/3688172/4157443/4293696/2021071614584691871.pdf

Emirates Digital Wallet, along with First Abu Dhabi Bank, FAB, Mashreq Bank, National Bank of Fujairah and Mastercard launched the klip Digital Cash Platform. Klip offers a simple way for users to transfer money to others via a mobile number and allows users to seamlessly pay for goods in-store using the existing merchant reach offered by its partner banks. It further enables small businesses to start accepting digital payments via mobile phones, meaning more businesses can tap into the digital economy. It is available whether or not the user has a bank account - there is no minimum requirement, other than being a resident of the UAE and having a SIM card. klip is instant, and when a klip transaction is made no personal financial data is transferred. https://www.edw.ae/faqs-2/

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) dominate the business landscape in the Middle East and North Africa region, yet they face impediments to growth, being handicapped by limited access to credit, unfavorable business environments, and talent gaps. Digital technologies present new opportunities for these businesses to achieve faster growth. To increase demand for digital services, governments should develop digital literacy and awareness programs as well as foster consumer trust by strengthening frameworks for cybersecurity, digital identification, data privacy, and consumer protection. The digital strategy must be underpinned by financial sector and business environment reforms, particularly strengthening financial infrastructures and business support.

Since its first cohort in 2016, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Regulatory Sandbox has supported 14 digital ID models. Also, there have been 15 applications for Direct Support to the FCA Innovation Hub and 6 of these are now receiving that support. Many other digital ID providers have engaged with the FCA through various channels such as the Anti-Money Laundering TechSprints. The FCA, in collaboration with The City of London, has also recently completed a pilot Digital Sandbox, which provides data access and a digital testing environment to help innovative businesses develop proof of concept. Two digital ID propositions participated in the pilot.

Stanford University's Future of Digital Currency Program joined forces with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a United nations agency headed by China, to launch the Digital Currency Global Initiative (DGCI). The purpose is to conduct research on central bank digital currency (CBDC) and other digital currencies, aiming to identify areas for standardization to facilitate interoperability. This research will focus on technical architectures, security, technical implications and challenges in deployment caused by regulatory and policy requirements. It will also construct a set of metrics by which to evaluate the robustness of various digital currency technologies against the requirements set by various stakeholders.

The world's first blockchain-based digital collector coin (LBCOIN) created by the Bank of Lithuania as well as its e-shop have entered the final testing phase. Upon its successful completion, the digital coin should be issued by July 2020. 24,000 digital tokens and 4,000 physical silver collector coins will be issued. For each digital coin collectors will get six digital tokens that will be available for storage in a dedicated wallet at the LBCOIN e-shop. They could also be used as a gift, exchanged with other collectors, transferred to a public NEM wallet and later be used to redeem a physical silver coin.

Chris Brummer gets the sense that most financial experts and economists support the release of a digital dollar, at least of some sort, that would comprise a liability of the Federal Reserve carrying the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. The disagreements appear to lie in what kind of technology should support it. For Chris Giancarlo and Dan Gorfine, a digital dollar would be tokenized, meaning that digital dollars would operate as bearer instruments that could be transferred instantaneously. Meanwhile Morgan Ricks supports an account-based path for digitization that would comprise just one component of a larger, explicit strategy of enabling financial inclusion through the buildout of digital individual accounts at the Fed.

A joint report by The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum, has found that while 12 out of 13 fintech sectors reported year-on-year growth during the first half of 2020, significant discrepancies between sectors and regions remain. Digital banking, digital identity and regtech sectors showed a more modest growth increase of 10% compared to their counterparts in digital payments, digital savings, wealthtech and digital asset exchanges which saw transaction volumes grow in excess of 20%. Procyclical digital lending fintechs saw an average 8% decrease in transaction volumes. Fintechs based in Emerging Markets or Developing Economies saw higher average growth in transaction numbers and volumes (15% and 12% respectively) than those in Advanced Economies. https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/centres/alternative-finance/publications/2020-global-covid-19-fintech-market-rapid-assessment-study/

The Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX) is planning to give banks full access to digital assets through a partnership between its digital asset arm, SIX Digital Exchange, and Swiss custody firm Custodigit. The Institutional Digital Asset Gateway will enable banks to develop new financial services and products around crypto-assets and digital assets for their customers. This partnership will also build upon the recent SIX investment in Omniex.

ISDA will bring together derivatives market participants, members of the crypto-asset community and other stakeholders to help develop common legal standards and definitions for digital asset derivatives, recognizing that crypto assets are a unique product class. This paper (i) identifies novel technology and market-driven events that could disrupt the operation of a digital asset derivatives transaction and provides a framework for dealing with these events; (ii) explores how digital assets (and the derivatives that reference them) can be valued and what happens when a valuation cannot be obtained; and (iii) analyzes how digital assets might interact with the existing ISDA documentation architecture, including the ISDA Master Agreement and industry standard collateral documentation. ISDA has also produced a supplement to the paper that sets out a granular, technical analysis of different ISDA product definitions and their potential applicability to digital asset derivatives.

The European Commission (EC) has received about 10,000 public comments so far on its call for evidence regarding a digital euro, which is to run from April 5 to June 14 and is aimed at getting feedback for the possible establishment and regulation of a digital currency as a new form of central bank money. During a similar period, the EC is also conducting a consultation targeted at relevant authorities and experts, to help policymakers consider issues including users' needs and expectations for a digital euro, a digital euro's role for the EU's retail payments and digital economy, the application of money-laundering rules, privacy and data protection aspects and international payments.

[March 2023] The Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten is among the central banks analyzing the effects of a digital Caribbean guilder central bank digital currency (CBDC). One of the reasons to consider a digital Caribbean guilder is the potential positive impact on financial inclusion. However, the advantages of a digital Caribbean Guilder are not yet convincing given the current state of technology, the experience in other Caribbean countries, and the level of digital literacy of those concerned. Priority has been given to provide everyone access to regular banking services and to the legislative initiative to support this in Curaçao and Sint Maarten.

The Association of Russian Banks reportedly sent a letter of critical concerns regarding the digital ruble to the Bank of Russia. Although the central bank has said that it will not be compulsory to open a digital ruble account, bankers want that legislated. They also want to know whether they will be compensated for acting as intermediaries. Also, according to digital ruble surveys conducted by local media, few people (15%) know of the plans to introduce the CBDC in 2025, and of those that do only about half know the details. Around half of survey respondents struggled to answer why a digital ruble is needed, and only 13% said they would use the digital ruble.

The Bank of England (BoE) and HM Treasury launched a digital pound central bank digital currency (CBDC) consultation. Both want to ensure the public have access to safe money that is convenient to use as everyday lives become more digital, while supporting private sector innovation, choice and efficiency in digital payments. At this stage, they judge it likely that the digital pound will be needed, but a decision to go ahead  won't be taken until around the middle of the decade, and it wouldn't be launched until the second half of the decade. Alongside the consultation paper, the BoE published a technology working paper on its CBDC technology thinking.

UBS AG issued the first ever digital bond by a banking institution globally that will be listed, traded and settled on a regulated digital exchange (an SFR375 million three-year senior unsecured bond). The digital bond has the same instrument structure, legal status and rating as a traditional UBS AG senior unsecured note but will be dual listed at SIX Swiss Exchange where they will settle on the SIX SIS central securities depository (CSD) traditional rails, and SDX Trading where they will settle via the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) distributed ledger-based central securities depository (CSD) network through atomic settlement technology. Settlement via SDX CSD is instant and automatic and does not require a central clearing counterparty. Investors will have the ability to automatically settle and clear the UBS digital bond on either SDX CSD directly or on SIX SIS via the operational link.

"Democratic concerns must be a part of the discussion about a national digital currency. Similar worries about privacy, surveillance and national digital currency were also raised in the European Union, the United States and elsewhere. Launching the digital Canadian dollar is a political decision, not a technological one. Ensuring freedom is the same. For the digital Canadian dollar and the Bank of Canada to be trusted, these worries must be addressed and mitigated. If the decision to issue this digital money is made, it needs to be done in a responsible manner"

"This whitepaper - the second of two papers covering digital assets - examines how digital assets may be held by customers through intermediaries and considers how those assets can be protected following an insolvency of the intermediary, with a specific focus on English and US law. While digital assets raise some novel questions, the key finding is that traditional and fundamental protections of clear legal terms and segregation of assets can be adapted to the world of digital assets."

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and People's Bank of China (PBOC) have agreed to allow tourists from either country to use the pilot digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC). Visitors to China have likely been able to use the digital yuan for some time, so the innovation here is that Chinese visitors will be able to use it in Singapore. This follows increasing integration between the digital yuan and Hong Kong, enabling visitors in both directions to use the CBDC, but given China's control over Hong Kong, that's rather different. https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2023/singapore-and-china-enhance-digital-finance-and-capital-markets-cooperation