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The Reserve Bank of Australia is partnering with Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Perpetual and ConsenSys Software, a blockchain technology company, on a collaborative project to explore the potential use and implications of wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) using distributed ledger technology (DLT). A proof-of-concept (POC) will be used to explore the implications of atomic delivery-versus-payment and other potential programmability and automation features of tokenised CBDC and financial assets. It will start by funding, settling and repaying tokenised syndicated loans on an Ethereum-based platform.

Banco Sabadell, Banco Santander, Bankia, BBVA and CaixaBank have successfully completed a proof-of-concept test to enable the execution of payments triggered by smart contracts in blockchain networks. The initiative, coordinated by Iberpay, the company that manages the Spanish Payment System (SNCE), confirmed the viability of employing blockchain technology to the payments sector. The first business case tested deployed a smart contract for the management of bank guarantees to automate the issuing, registering, executing and cancelling customer bank guarantees. Additionally, the case incorporated a 'notary participant' that simulates a State or Court injunction that may approve the execution of the guarantee when the established conditions are met, automatically triggering its associated payment.

Through CBDC, governments could send direct payments much more rapidly than through checks or tax refunds and could provide geographically and temporally targeted relief. The CBDC supporting infrastructure would also enable fund receivers to make payments and transfers seamlessly to other CBDC holders and/or non-CBDC holders, anywhere and anytime across the economy. CBDC could reinforce the resilience of a country's retail payment services, especially in those cases where private sector infrastructures are disrupted, due to technical problems, personnel unavailability, or inability of service providers to operate. The 'programmability' of CBDC could be used to monitor and control how, when, and where recipients utilise the funds. Finally, CBDC could enable people to substitute for cash and in-person payment methods when social distancing is required, or if the use of cash plummets as people worry about germs. Still, CBDC projects will take time to materialise, and meanwhile existing infrastructures could be improved to facilitate transfers and payments.

China's experimental $1.5 million giveaway of digital yuan to Shenzhen citizens ended on Sunday with acclaim from currency analysts. Under the week-long programme, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) gave 200 yuan to each of 50,000 consumers selected in a lottery in digital "red envelopes". The online wallet was accessible via an app, without need for an existing bank account, with payments accepted via smartphone scans in downtown outlets in China's fourth-biggest city, from luxury goods retailers to snack stores. However, skeptical reactions among some Shenzhen recipients of the giveaway - long used to scanning phones to pay for goods with other systems - showed the PBOC has work to do in convincing consumers of the benefits of a central bank-backed digital yuan.

Bitmex is fast-tracking its user verification program in order to comply with regulatory requirements. Users must now be fully verified by November 5, 2020 to continue trading on the platform. The original deadline was February 21, 2021. Unverified users will not be able to open new positions after this date. They will also"not be able to withdraw funds from their Bitmex account without completing verification beginning December 4, 2020.

The Wyoming Division of Banking approved crypto-centric Avanti Financial Group's application for a bank charter, paving the way to opening for banking business as early as October 2020. Avanti also announced the Avit stablecoin, which supposedly offers more legal certainty than existing stablecoins because it will be issued under existing U.S. commercial laws. Avit will be programmable via Avanti's application programming interface (API). It is designed for use by institutional traders and corporate treasurers U.S. dollar payment settlement solutions do not suffer from the delayed settlement and chargeback issues of traditional payment solutions, or the legal, accounting and tax issues of stablecoins.

Interest in the 60-year old COBOL programming language is making a comeback. The perception is that it is a dinosaur, but it powers about 80% of in-person financial services transactions and 95% of ATM swipes, and on a daily basis, it processes $3 trillion in commerce. And now unemployment benefits systems in several U.S. states that are written in COBOL are failing under the strain of higher volumes due to workers being laid off during the pandemic lockdowns. It has also exposed a scarcity of COBOL programmers, although some veterans are coming out of retirement or becoming consultants for lucrative renumeration.

Here's a CBDC Tracker covers similar territory. The main difference is that it includes wholesale CBDC and some initial sovereign offerings (ISOs) such as the Marshall Islands SOV and Venezuelan Petro. Also it includes projects that are arguably simply central bank run blockchain-based payment rails (eg Cambodia's Project Inthanon). Finally, as far as I can tell, the tabulation doesn't include links to the official (or unofficial) sources of the information. But, on the other hand, it includes some useful information that doesn't fit my more compact presentation, like announcement date, status, technology, and programmability.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched two programmes to promote the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence and data analytics for financial institutions. The two projects are aimed at developing fairness metrics in credit risk scoring and customer marketing, and helping financial institutions validate their data-based systems. https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2020/fairness-metrics-to-aid-responsible-ai-adoption-in-financial-services

This Federal Reserve Board paper looks at the potential benefit that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could provide in the context of existing payment mechanisms. A comparison of a general-purpose CBDC with existing means of payments across seven categories reveals how an appropriately designed CBDC could provide value in certain areas. These technological benefits could include a digital form of a bearer instrument, more cost-effective payment services, greater anonymity than current digital transactions, and a catalyst for greater innovation through programmable money.

Avit will be commercial bank money or programmable electronic cash, redeemable at par with a U.S. dollar issued by Avanti Bank. It's not a security token, or a digital representation of an investment that's expected to generate returns. Unlike cash, stablecoins are generally issued as intangible assets, which means they aren't physical or don't derive their value from contractual claims like stocks and bonds do. Because of this, they have uncertain legal enforceability. Most U.S.-issued stablecoins exist under Article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code, which requires they have intermediaries.

If CBDCs existed, stimulus payments could have been made with the proviso that they would become worthless within a certain period unless spent on food, rent or other targeted needs. Since CBDCs are programmable, this can be done through a multi-token standard, where the stimulus payments would carry an expiry date and strict control on where the stimulus can be spent. Such forms of money exist today, like food stamps in the US or gift cards that expire. Distributing stimulus to the poor who do not have access to stored cash in a time of unemployment ensures that they spend it.

Atomic Swaps exemplify the application of irreversible transactions and escrow mechanisms. In doing so, they demonstrate what is possible through disintermediation and programmable money: P2P liquidity networks in an internet of money.

Changes in the Fed's policy open a real possibility for building the new economy based on programmable money and regularly complaint payment rails operating entirely (or mostly) outside of the existing banking system. The broad expansion of payment mechanisms will democratize finance and make it much more inclusive and equitable. It will also force banks to become more nimble and agile to remain economically relevant.

Public blockchain based money is superior to our current intermediated system in this respect, because your programs are not (well, they do not have to be) reliant on the whims of specific service providers who can change their mind at any time. There is only one service provider, and that is the miners in aggregate. They receive your programs (smart contracts) and your instructions (transactions). If your transaction is technically valid, it executes without bias.

The price of Ether (ETH) is up 266% this year - twice as much as that of bitcoin (BTC). But a lot of digital-asset investors are hedging their bets, buying tokens associated with upstart blockchains that could potentially grab market share from the Ethereum network, often referred to as a "world computer" due to its versatility and programmability. One such token is dot (DOT), of the Polkadot blockchain, whose co-founder Gavin Wood was a co-founder of Ethereum. At the heart of Polkadot is the concept of "parachains," which are blockchains that can run higher transaction throughput than Ethereum.

Wyoming recently awarded its second special-purpose depository institution (SPDI) charter to Avanti Bank. One of the most notable products that Avanti intends to offer is the "Avit" stablecoin "disruptor." Avanti Bank's Avit will be a tokenized, programmable US dollar. Becasue Avit will be issued by, and be a direct obligation of, a bank, making it an electronic version of a traditional bank note. This means the Avit can be used in software applications like other stablecoins but may be considered more reliable than traditional stablecoins because users can trust that the deposits backing the Avit are held in the same state chartered financial institution that issued the instrument. Critically, if the Avit is a bank note it is also exempt from regulation as a security by the SEC. One legal wrinkle is that Article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), which governs bank notes, has never before been directly extended to electronic negotiable instruments such as digital bank notes. Nevertheless, there is an argument that Article 3 provides the necessary legal framework for banks to issue a variety of electronic negotiable instruments, including digital certificates of deposits. One could argue that a bank issuing a product with features similar to a stablecoin is really just a new form of a traditional bank activity.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the 15 finalists for the global competition to develop retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) solutions (Global CBDC Challenge). The finalists will progress to the Acceleration Phase before they pitch their solutions to a panel of judges and an international audience at this year's Singapore FinTech Festival. The Challenge attracted over 300 submissions from more than 50 countries. Participants were invited to address 12 problem statements relating to (i) CBDC instrument; (ii) CBDC distribution; and (iii) CBDC infrastructure; covering topics such as inclusivity, interoperability and programmability. The proposals from the finalists sought to address multiple problem statements through a variety of technology approaches including hardware wallets, digital identity and asset tokenisation solutions.

Banca d'Italia and Deutsche Bundesbank have been ramping up their efforts to utilize distributed ledger technology (DLT) in central bank money settlements. The initiatives aim to complement current central bank money settlement practices with programmable trigger mechanisms that connect DLT-based assets, like tokenized securities, and cash to be settled via conventional payments systems. This could be seen as complementary to the Digital Euro, which is currently under consideration.

Here's a book excerpt a year after its publication - because I keep referring people to this chapter. This chapter has stood up quite well through 2021. Sand Dollar, D-Cash and DC/EP are still in ever-growing pilot programmes. Nigeria has just launched its e-Naira CBDC as an alternate payment system. Consumer use cases for CBDCs are still thin on the ground."