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"DigiTally is an overlay payment scheme for use on mobile phones, whose goals are to extend mobile phone payments to areas with poor connectivity and reduce transaction fees. DigiTally enables two people to do a payment transaction by simply copying short strings of numbers between their phones. This doesn't need either smartphones or a network connection. Either phone can upload the transaction later, once it gets a network connection. A short-term goal was a pilot project to explore the factors that affect payment service uptake."

Bank of Namibia (BON) launched its Instant Payment Project, with a targeted launch year of 2025. It will be focusing specifically on enhancing financial services in rural areas and the informal sector, thereby reducing cash dependency, and increasing transactional efficiency. Designed for inclusivity, the platform will be accessible on any device, including non-smartphones, ensuring that everyone can use it effortlessly. And according to Finextra, BON will partner with NPCI International Payments, the firm behind India's Unified payments Interface (UPI). https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/44088/namibia-signs-on-for-indias-upi-tech

The National Bank of Cambodia's (NBC's) Bakong online banking and mobile payments app has seen its adoption levels surpass 10 million accounts (about 60% of Cambodia's population. Bakong allows Cambodians to transfer and receive digital funds using their smartphones without traditional bank accounts. The NBC has also established cross-border payment connectivity with Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, and signed MOUs with the Central Bank of Solomon Islands, the Reserve Bank of Fiji, and the National Bank of Rwanda, to expand the reach of Bakong to these countries. In addition, the NBC has signed a memorandum of cooperation with Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, to facilitate QR code-based payments between Cambodia and Japan.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is looking for a senior payments industry expert to provide consultancy services on a 40% part-time basis to support the project team designing and developing the digital euro's offline functionality. The successful candidate will support the team in (i) defining the deployment of the digital euro's offline functionality in end users' devices in line with the requirements set in the draft legislative proposal; (ii) designing and implementing an optimal user experience for offline contactless payments via smartphones; (iii) assessing how an offline digital euro can be integrated within the existing terminal landscape at the point of sale; (iv) supporting the drafting of detailed requirements for the digital euro's offline functionality.

Idemia is working with Qualcomm to offer users offline payments on smartphones for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) through the Snapdragon 8-series Mobile Platform which requires a Qualcomm Secure Processor Unit. Customers can make payments with traditional cards, biometric cards, smart phones, or smart watches. Idemia has already demonstrated offline CBDC on different payment devices. Now it can handle credentials and conduct payments offline, leveraging an integrated secure element in users' phones.

Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) has unveiled its Filia Unplugged offline payment solution that can be integrated into existing digital payment platforms, including tokenized deposit systems, instant payment systems, or mobile money services. It enables use cases such as peer-to-peer payments (P2P) or payment-to-business (P2B) payments. The solution stores monetary tokens on a hardware wallet (e.g. the SIM card of a smartphone) and requires only two wallets to operate, which can then be used without an online connection, for example via near field communication (NFC).

The Bank of Canada (BOC) published a paper that presents empirical findings regarding the adoption of mobile payments and digital wallets, based on a survey of Canadian adult consumers. It found that five out of six use a smartphone regularly, but they have not started to use mobile payments at the same rate as other payment innovations such as contactless cards. This is possibly because current mobile payment technology may not justify the costs of switching for consumers. However, according to the empirical evidence, providing access to payments with features similar to mobile payments to those without a mobile phone would result in usage rates exceeding the current use among mobile phone owners. Therefore, people who are unable to acquire or choose not to own a mobile device might have unmet payment needs.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) has authorized seven domestic banks to participate in a pilot program testing digital financial services based on central bank digital currency (CBDC) and deposit tokens. The pilot project will offer digital vouchers via QR codes, which users can scan with their smartphones to redeem government-provided benefits digitally at registered merchants, including educational institutions, cultural centers, and welfare-related outlets. The FSC did not specify a timeline for the pilot. https://www.fsc.go.kr/no010101/83337

The European Central Bank (ECB) is inviting experts in offline payments to participate in conversations to explore options for an offline digital euro as part of its retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) work. It wants to understand the marketplace for using embedded secure elements (eSEs) and embedded SIMs (eSIMs) in user devices. Secure elements are standard-compliant chips that ensure safe data storage embedded in most smartphones and many wearables, typically for payments. eSIMs facilitate user network switches via software updates, instead of swapping physical SIM cards. Both could play roles in offline payment functionality. The experts are to be drawn from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), mobile network operators (MNOs) and specialized trusted service managers, but none that are participating in any of the ECB public tenders on digital euro components. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/intro/news/html/ecb.mipnews240801.en.html

IDEMIA Secure Transactions (IST) demonstrated the first ever offline central bank digital currency (CBDC) payments incorporating enhanced security against quantum threats. Offline CBDC allows digital currency transactions without internet, ensuring cash-like secure and seamless payments in areas with limited connectivity. This offline CBDC payment transaction uses quantum-resistant public key cryptography endorsed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The offline transactions demonstrated as part of this quantum-safe solution are performed using two smartphones thanks to NFC. Money is stored inside a secure element fortified with quantum-safe cryptography to guarantee security and prevent the risks of double spending or unauthorized money creation.

[November 1, 2024] Chinese telecommunications company Huawei inegrated the digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) into its HarmonyOS NEXT operating system. The integration will make the digital currency more accessible and easier to use for up to 1 billion smartphone owners. For example, users will not need to download the digital yuan app to use the CBDC. Huawei developed HarmonyOS after Google "banned" the company in 2019 due to sanctions imposed by the US government.

Back in December 2021, Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation launched its ePidtrymka digital payment system to distribute COVID-related stimulus funds to fully-vaccinated Ukraine citizens who are over 18. The card is issued free of charge both online and offline at participating bank branches. The money can be spent on books, gyms, tickets to the cinema, theater, museums, concerts or transportation in the Ukraine, but money had to be used within four months, after which the account is closed.