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"Engineers introducing the designation identity to describe objectives or operational aspects of technology, must establish a functional definition of the term identity before committing the concept to source code. As such the objective of this taxonomy project is to provide a peer-reviewed library to serve as a reference for engineers in general, and software engineers aiming to facilitate legally relevant (commercial) activities in particular."

"In this work, we put forth a new model for CBDCs and an efficient construction that, for the first time, fully addresses privacy and regulatory compliance simultaneously. Moreover, recognizing the importance of avoiding a single point of failure, our construction is distributed so that all its properties can withstand a suitably bounded minority of participating entities getting corrupted by an adversary. Achieving all the above properties efficiently is technically involved; among others, our construction uses suitable cryptographic tools to thwart manin-the-middle attacks, it showcases a novel traceability mechanism with significant performance gains compared to previously known techniques and, perhaps surprisingly, shows how to obviate Byzantine agreement or broadcast from the optimistic execution path of a payment, something that results in an essentially optimal communication pattern and communication overhead when the sender and receiver are honest. Going beyond "simple" payments, we also discuss how our scheme can facilitate one-off large transfers complying with Know Your Transaction (KYT) disclosure requirements. Our CBDC concept is expressed and realized in the Universal Composition (UC) framework providing in this way a modular and secure way to embed it within a larger financial ecosystem."

The Clearing House (TCH) published a paper that analyzes US insured depository institutions legal authority to issue stablecoins and engage in stablecoin-related activities. It finds that, in 2020 and 2021, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) gave national banks the clear legal authority to issue and exchange stablecoins, based on language in the National Bank Act, and consistent with numerous legal decisions and regulatory determinations regarding a bank's authority to issue payments and deposit instruments. National banks have always been permitted to develop innovative deposit and payment mechanisms, as receiving deposits and acting as financial intermediaries are core functions of banks.

"Visa's CBDC Payments Module is a proof-of-concept (POC) that envisions bringing web3 assets into a web2 user experience by providing an on-ramp for individuals, business owners, governments, and users of all kinds. The POC is designed to be a bridge connecting a CBDC system with existing forms of payment products and outlets. In linking CBDC with card payments-whether in the form of prepaid or debit cards-CBDC becomes a fast and nearly ubiquitous alternative payment choice users can easily adopt alongside existing forms of money, all while benefiting from economies of scale derived from today's mature payment networks. The illustration below captures the flow of a payment transaction that integrates Visa's scale and messaging protocols with a participating central bank's ledger technology. Importantly, all this is designed to happen at the backend without major disruption for users, businesses, and financial intermediaries."

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has reportedly launched new Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) regulations that pave the way towards issuing CBDC by 2025. Deputy Governor Jameel Ahmad said that the SBP the aim of issuing CBDC would be to promote financial inclusion and reduce corruption, and inefficiency.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe M. Medalla provided an update on Philippine payment system developments, including the BSP signifying interest in joining the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub's Project Nexus. Nexus seeks to connect multiple national payment systems into a cross-border platform that could enable international payments to happen as quickly as sending a text message.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) will reportedly expand its e-CNY trials to Guangdong, Jiangsu, Hebei and Sichuan provinces. Deputy Governor Fan Yifei, reportedly said the number of users, merchants and transactions is "steadily growing", but he did not provide details.

According to European Central Bank (ECB) executive board member Fabio Panetta, the ECB is looking at the potential of DLT in improving the efficiency of interbank settlements. However, after listing the many benefits of DLT, Panetta highlighted some drawbacks, and made a case for a system that builds on the ECB's existing infrastructure for wholesale settlements, instead of building a new one based entirely on DLT.

CBN marks 1st anniversary of eNaira The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has unveiled activities to mark the first anniversary of its digital currency, the eNaira.

Heng Wang has written one of the most comprehensive summaries of China's CBDC approach I've seen recently. He argues that the role of the state, the potential cross-border use of e-CNY, and China's proactiveness in international governance are the core features of China's CBDC. These features contribute to China's CBDC approach, a possible selective reshaping of international financial order. He adopts a multifactor analytical framework which explores major economic, political economy, legal and regulatory factors affecting the sustainability of China's CBDC approach to promote a holistic understanding of e-CNY's evolution.

The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) published a brief that documents the acceleration of consumers' and businesses' migration away from cash and checks towards electronic payments, and a growing use of contactless and fast payments. The Covid-19 pandemic was likely responsible for the surge but at the same time, public demand for cash remains steady,  both as a means of payment and as a safe haven.

"The [Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's (RBZ's)] CBDC Project continued to progress steadily in line with the envisaged CBDC Road Map. In this regard, in November 2022, the Bank rolled out a consumer survey that intends to solicit opinions on the design and nature of the CBDC and its overall acceptance/acceptability by stakeholders. As at January 23, 2023, the survey had received 2,286 responses."

David Birch argues that cash reduction via fintech means an increase in net welfare. People who are trapped in a cash economy, the poor in particular, are more likely to get robbed, to get bad deals, and to get shaken down. Although that argues for reducing cash usage,  what do we do about the people people who say they would "struggle to cope" in a cashless society (one in five according to a U.K. survey) and those who say it would be "problematic" (half of those surveyed)?

Will an introduction of CBDC cause disintermediation? I provide empirical and theoretical evidence that CBDC will not necessarily crowd out bank deposits in economies with significant demand for currency. I estimate the model for the US using data on households' payment choices and find that non-interest-bearing CBDC will lead instead to an inflow of deposits caused by cash substitution. Banks then lower deposit rates and lend more. Similarly, banks will not contract lending if CBDC is intermediated even if they experience an outflow of deposits. Finally, I show that CBDC can lead to disintermediation when it is interest-bearing.

It's not clear that the Tornado mixer sanctions actually outlaw reciting code, but they do include what appears to be the first-ever ban on interacting with blockchain addresses controlled by self-executing code (sanctions normally ban transactions with accounts controlled by specific people or entities). And as crypto advocates mull legal challenges to the sanctions, they're homing in on First Amendment objections. A showdown over the constitutionality of the sanctions would reopen decades-old questions about the legal status of code. In all likelihood, it would be just the first major skirmish in a broader fight over the First Amendment's application to blockchain systems, one that crypto advocates have been anticipating for years.

The "Blockchain Trilemma" is a term used to describe the challenge of increasing performance, security, and decentralisation at the same time. Current enterprise blockchains are not truly decentralised. They may be structurally decentralised, but are operationally centralised. By reversing this, having structurally centralised, but operationally decentralised architecture, a CBDC can achieve a high-performance blockchain. However, any blockchain-based CBDC should not only solve the blockchain trilemma, but also the CBDC design trilemma, which notes that identity, privacy, and programmability cannot be easily enhanced at the same time. A CBDC cannot ignore privacy for the sake of achieving legal compliance and implementing programmable money. From an expertise point of view, the answer to this trilemma is the use of a decentralized identity system such as self-sovereign identity (SSID) to find the perfect equilibrium for the CBDC design trilemma. Self-sovereign identity is very popular for its advanced privacy protection. By having an SSID-based blockchain system, a CBDC can incorporate both privacy and transparency into the blockchain-based CBDC system. Additionally, a use of zero-knowledge encryption to protect the transaction privacy of blockchain data is highly recommended for any CBDC implementation.

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 Bank of Canada published a study of the dynamics of Bitcoin awareness and ownership from 2016 to 2021. In 2021, Canadians' awareness of Bitcoin remained stable at about 90%, while ownership increased to 13% from the 5% observed in 2018-2020. Canadian Bitcoin owners in 2021 were more likely to be male, aged 18 to 34 years old, with a university degree or high income. They largely see Bitcoin as an investment. The increase in Bitcoin ownership was driven by widespread increases in savings and wealth by Canadian households during the pandemic, coupled with Fintech firms providing accessible and user-friendly platforms for buying Bitcoin.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published measures that members should consider when determining their policy and enforcement approaches to retail online offerings and marketing. Part of the risks IOSCO identified include using gamification and other psychological techniques to lure new persons into investing in virtual assets. The IOSCO sees the use of celebrities or influencers to market projects as a major threat, with the report noting that these "finfluencers" can wield a great degree of control for new investors in the space

This paper by Vipin Bharathan and Mani Pillai proposes a CBDC implementation approach based on two reference standards; the Token Taxonomy Framework (TTF) for tokens and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) Common Domain Model (CDM) for contracts. The proposal's basic pattern is a contract network linked to a token network, bridging the gap between business contracts and the corresponding exchange of value.