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"This BIS paper aims to shed light on current conditions in international remittances and challenges from a financial inclusion perspective. The paper takes stock of such conditions and attempts to pinpoint areas where progress has been most challenging. It also identifies reasons for remaining obstacles and highlights ongoing initiatives to address them. The analysis draws on a unique set of information sources, namely the assessment reports by the World Bank - which are usually not published - and the Financial Action Task Force's mutual evaluation reports."

"Ammer Group AG is a Swiss holding developing and offering innovative products and solutions in the intersection of finance, technology and regulation. We partner with banks, governments and innovative companies around the globe."

"Bakkt is nixing its consumer app to focus on its business-to-business technology solutions. Bakkt, which offers a platform for commerce to link to cryptocurrency, said it will continue its core focus of providing businesses with crypto and loyalty experiences for their customers through SaaS and API solutions on a secure and compliant platform."

Technically-speaking, there are two types of digital wallets: s

The Bank of Canada (BoC)published an article that considers the pros and cons  of offline central bank digital currency (CBDC). An offline CBDC would allows users to transact while none of them are connected to the internet and could complement bank notes. A balance must be struck between compliance, security requirements and user needs, for example, by limits on holdings, transaction amounts and the duration of offline functionality. The article mentions that, while some central banks have deployed offline devices as part of pilots, no commercial, turn-key solutions are available to implement lengthy and indeterminate ("extended") offline functionality. I don't know what is meant by "commercial turnkey solutions" but a number of production-ready solutions offer extended offline functionality, such as those of Crunchfish, G+D, IDEMIA and WhisperCash. Also, those firms would disagree with the article's assertion that "adopting a security posture in terms of limits, controls and functionality, where risks are sufficiently mitigated, is still a challenge for technology available today"! But otherwise it's good to see a G20 central bank advocating for offline CBDC functionality, which I view as essential to successful CBDC take-up in many countries.

Despite phenomenal growth, current buy now, pay later (BNPL) models are showing to be rather unprofitable. Quinlan and Associates estimates that in Asia-Pacific (APAC), the largest BNPL firms, including Australia's Afterpay and Japan's Paidy, are currently running average profit margins of -15% per annum (p.a.), while the more nascent players operating in emerging markets like the Philippines' Cashalo and Indonesia's Akulaku are suffering from profit margins of -100% p.a. According to the analysis, APAC BNPL providers are struggling to reach profitability as costs relating to sales, marketing, funding, staff, technology, and credit losses eat into all their profits. Losses are even more pronounced for emerging market BNPL providers because of their stronger focus on long tail, unbanked/underbanked consumers, leading to much larger credit losses and funding costs. Quinlan and Associates identified three key pathways for them to become commercially viable: optimization, vertical integration and expansion.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) published a paper on privacy-enhancing CBDC technologies, comparing methods for privacy-preservation, such as homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), and discusses how important other central banks rank privacy within their CBDC projects. As part of its CBDC research, the BoJ will continue to research and study privacy protection related to digital currencies with a wide range of stakeholders.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the Stellar Development Foundation, USDC stablecoin issuer Circle, and cross-border money transfer company MoneyGram have rigged up a system for sending aid directly to Ukrainian refugees using crypto-assets. The UNHCR delivers USDC hosted on the Stellar network, to a digital wallet that can be accessed via smartphone, even to people without bank accounts. The recipient then exchanges their USDC for local currency at any MoneyGram facility. Because the USDC is hosted on decentralized infrastructure and in the custody of individual wallet owners, funds cannot be withheld.

The Reserve Bank of India (India) and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore the interoperability between the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) of the two central banks. The banks will jointly conduct proof-of-concept (PoC) and pilot(s) of bilateral CBDC bridges to facilitate cross-border CBDC transactions of remittances and trade. The MoU also provides for technical collaboration and knowledge sharing on matters related to Fintech and financial products and services. https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=55372

G+D has compiled a handy checklist of aspects that constitute a successful central bank digital currency (CBDC) exploration and implementation strategy.  It starts with finding the proper balance between pain points, motivations, and opportunities for all stakeholders in that particular ecosystem. Successful implementation could be based on an innovative use case that solves one or more pain points, or it could also offer an opportunity that was previously unavailable. Also, all ecosystem stakeholders - consumers, financial service providers, and merchants - should feel that their interests are kept in mind. Finally, CBDC should not be just a solution to a particular problem in itself, but rather, it is should also provide a platform for innovation that enables new business models.

"The RBI is hoping to conduct offline transactions by testing the use of wearables, cards like debit and credit, bluetooth technology, and a smartphone. Another key concern the RBI is looking to address is the risk of double spending. More than 50 proposals have been submitted to the RBI on the closing date of March 24, 2023 to solve the problem of offline transactions, one source said."

Mobile money transactions hit a record high of $1.26 trillion in 2022 (versus $1 trillion in 2021), according to a new GSMA report. The number of registered mobile money accounts increased by 13% year-on-year to 1.6 billion, and the volume of mobile money-enabled international remittances increased by 28% to $22 billion. However, there is a wide gender gap, with mobile phone ownership remaining the main cause of this gap, although cultural norms also prevent women from adopting mobile money. "Women in low- and middle-income countries are 28% less likely than men to own a mobile money account," the report found. https://www.gsma.com/newsroom/press-release/mobile-money-exceeds-industry-expectations-reaching-a-transaction-value-of-1-26-usd-trillion-in-2022/

Prepaid cards were being used as shadow currency long before bitcoin was invented. Their current and continuing popularity in crypto (and other communities) is because prepaid offers many advantages over on-chain tokens. Unlike crypto, an electronic retail voucher can be redeemed near-anonymously, instantly, at face value. Use will usually fall below the purview of financial regulators. Purchases and transfers are largely untraceable. Trust rests in a central counterparty, with a multinational corporation acting both as the custodian and the clearing house. Sales are VAT-exempt and the reporting of capital gains is a matter of personal conscience.

The BIS Innovation Hub and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority have launched the second phase of Project Aurum. Phase 1.0 tested the feasibility of a technological stack that integrates a wholesale interbank system and a retail e-wallet. Phase 2.0 will now focus on how to enhance privacy for retail central bank digital currencies (CBDC). It will explore several privacy-enhancing technologies, including pseudonymization and zero knowledge proofs, and test how increasing privacy affects the performance and compliance of a system.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia conducted a survey in October 2022 in which it asked consumers about their interest in retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). 52.6% of respondents said they would possibly use a digital dollar, but widespread consumer adoption will require that the product does not require fees to access or use (63.5% of respondents who would possibly use a digital dollar), be accepted widely in the marketplace (57.3%), provides high levels of security and privacy for consumers (42.0%), and bear interest (39.2%). At the same time, not all consumers were confident they could render an opinion about a CBDC.

"In this chapter, we aim to answer the question 'What is money?' by reviewing its functions, origins and evolution over time. It is important to note that while we seek to provide a comprehensive answer to this question, it is not exhaustive. By the end of the chapter, we hope that you will have gained a solid understanding of the various dimensions of money and are able to understand its general societal function in greater depth."