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The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) published a report that examines the key motivations, models, and policy considerations for wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC). It discusses the need for wholesale CBDCs as risk-free settlement assets to support digital transaction infrastructure and mitigate potential instability arising from reliance on tokenized private assets. Central banks are considering wholesale CBDCs as an alternative to upgrading real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems, aiming to keep pace with programmable, always-on infrastructures that facilitate real-time, cross-currency liquidity and tokenized asset transactions.

State Street's Currenex trading technology arm is working with London-based FX trading infrastructure provider Pure Digital to to create an institution-focused digital currency trading platform. It will be a fully automated over-the-counter market for digital assets, with physical delivery and bank custody. Scheduled for launch in mid-2021, the new platform will reportedly allow institutional investors to trade using bilateral credit and multiple custody solutions.

Digital finance has the potential to transform emerging market and advanced economies alike. India's approach rests on the principle of providing digital financial infrastructure as a public good. It offers an important case study where the results are relevant and applicable for all economies, irrespective of their stage of development.

Under its DLT Scripless Bond Project, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) has successfully launched a new blockchain-based platform for government savings bond issuance. It aims to enhance investors' buying experience, improve operational efficiency and reduce overall cost. It is a collaborative effort among eight institutions, which are BOT, Public Debt Management Office, Thailand Securities Depository Co., Ltd, Thai Bond Market Association and selling-agent banks, including Bangkok Bank, Krungthai Bank, Kasikorn Bank, and Siam Commercial Bank. In the next phase, the infrastructure will expand to support all government bonds, both retail and wholesale.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's New York Innovation Center (NYIC), in collaboration with members of the U.S. financial services sector, published the findings of a proof of concept (PoC) that explored the feasibility of an interoperable network for wholesale payments operating on a shared multi-entity distributed ledger. The research project, undertaken jointly with private sector organizations, experimented with the concept of a regulated liability network (RLN), a theoretical payment infrastructure designed to support the exchange and settlement of regulated digital assets. The experiment successfully simulated both the domestic and cross-border scenarios, identifying shared ledger technology as a potential solution to support payment innovation.

David Birch calls radical rethinking about payment infrastructure , like allowing more direct access to the pipes, provide digital fiat (dollars with an API) as a public good and allow non-credit creating payment banks/ institutions/ utilities to implement the transfers in space as a utility bringing value together (electronic money and digital cash) to put in place robust, inclusive and sustainable pipes for the rest of the economy to use. Let banks focus on creating credit and let them find other ways  to stay in the transaction loop.

On February 12, 2023, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) published its Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) Programme to accelerate the digital transformation in the financial services sector. It comprises implementation of nine key initiatives, including the issuance of central bank digital currency (CBDC) for cross-border and domestic uses.

The IMF published  a paper that develops a detailed model to evaluate the necessary investment requirements to achieve affordable universal broadband. The results indicate that approximately $418 billion needs to be mobilized to connect all unconnected citizens globally (targeting 40-50 GB/Month per user with 95 percent reliability). The bulk of additional investment is for emerging market economies (73%) and low-income developing countries (24%). It also finds that if the data consumption level is lowered to 10-20 GB/Month per user, the total cost decreases by up to about half, whereas raising data consumption to 80-100 GB/Month per user leads to a cost increase of roughly 90% relative to the baseline. Moreover, a 40% cost decrease occurs when varying the peak hour quality of service level from the baseline 95% reliability, to only 50% reliability. The paper concludes that broadband policy assessments should be explicit about the quantity of data and the reliability of service provided to users. Failure to do so will lead to inaccurate estimates and, ultimately, to poor broadband policy decisions.

The Bank of England published its supervision of financial market infrastructures 2022 Annual Report. It reports that the Financial Services & Markets Bill, published in July 2022 and scheduled to complete in 2023 seeks to bring systemic stablecoins into the Bank's regulatory remit, and bring the UK regime in line with standards discussed. The Bank is now working on a regulatory framework for systemic stablecoins and plans to consult on this in due course. Alongside regulation, another key component of a stablecoin regime is the potential application of the FMI Special Administrative Regime to systemic stablecoin firms. The Bank, working with His Majesty's Treasury, will continue to develop this regime to ensure it reflects international CPMI-IOSCO guidance.

The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) published an update on the second phase of the Digital Tenge (DT) project, including reporting on testing of five government use case scenarios involving programmable payments. They involved controlling and monitoring the use of funds paid out or lent by the government to support various programs. Two involved payments out of the National Fund for infrastructure projects, and another, investment subsidies for the purchase of agricultural machinery and equipment. Another involved a government microlending program to support farmer livestock purchases, and the fifth one the collection of value-added taxes (VAT). No specific potential full launch dates were given, but 2025 will be the last year in terms of the DT's phased implementation.

"Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a new form of money, issued by a country's or region's central bank, that can be used for a variety of payment scenarios. Depending on its concrete implementation, there are many participants in a production CBDC ecosystem, including the central bank, commercial banks, merchants, individuals, and wallet providers. There is a need for robust and scalable Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for CBDC to ensure the continued trust of all entities in the system. This paper discusses the criteria that should flow into the design of a PKI and proposes a certificate hierarchy, together with a rollover concept ensuring continuous operation of the system. We further consider several peculiarities, such as the circulation of offline-capable hardware wallets."

Two cryptocurrency exchange portals, DragonEx and CoinBene, have disclosed hacks this week and have both gone into maintenance mode to investigate and improve their infrastructure. DragonEx is believed to have lost over $1 million worth of cryptocurrency, while CoinBebe's losses are estimated at over $45 million, according to industry observers

This paper proposes a crypto-asset ecosystem regulatory approach that relies on a decentralized regulatory architecture built upon the existing regulatory infrastructure and makes use of the existing as well as the emerging middlemen in the industry.

Practical solutions to mitigating electromagnetic pulse (EMP) risk include hardening critical systems against and developing local microgrids that will function independently even in worst-case scenarios. Safeguarding even 10% of critical infrastructures could potentially secure as much as 85% of the economy.

DTCC: If a Security Token Platform performs a substantially equivalent function as an existing market infrastructure, the same legal and other requirements applicable to that function should be the same.

Deutsche Boerse has outlined plans to build a fully integrated digital asset ecosystem including issuance, custody, access to liquidity, and banking services. The German exchange group has partnered with Swisscom and FinTech company Sygnum to build a regulatory compliant financial market infrastructure for digital assets.

Crypto-Assets: Implications for financial stability, monetary policy, and payments and market infrastructures This ECB paper summarises the outcomes of the analysis of the ECB Crypto-Assets Task Force. It concludes, in the current market, crypto-assets' risks or potential implications are limited and/or manageable on the basis of the existing regulatory and oversight frameworks.

The Bitfinex probe has laid bare two fundamental weaknesses in crypto infrastructure as a whole: 1) the lack of high-level banking services; and, 2) the lack of auditing standards.

Microsoft is launching the first decentralized infrastructure implementation by a major tech company that is built directly on the bitcoin blockchain.

The Eurosystem wholeheartedly supports the creation of an innovative single payments market for the euro through its market infrastructure projects and policy work.