Standard Chartered and PwC unveil blueprint for programmable CBDC success in China

By Shashank Bhardwaj| Jun 2, 2023

The presence of 11 megalopolises and three currencies in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao creates an opportune environment for conducting CBDC research

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PwC China and Standard Chartered, the British multinational bank, have collaborated on a white paper that illustrates the practicability of programmable CBDCs within the Greater Bay Area in China.

The intricate financial landscape encompassing the pataca in Macao, the Hong Kong Dollar in Hong Kong, and the yuan in China provide an ideal environment for testing programmable Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). According to the report, the region facilitated a cross-border trade volume of approximately 3.8 trillion yuan ($535 billion) in 2021.

The recently issued white paper underlines that the successful implementation of programmable CBDCs within the Greater Bay Area (GBA) of China might serve as a model for other CBDCs, particularly in the area of enabling cross-border economic transactions. Some of the important points that are highlighted in the report include the notion that collaborative efforts among the participants in an industry to improve customer service are essential to achieving widespread commercial adoption.

Further, the report highlights that CBDCs may be programmed to offer a wide variety of prospects for application, ranging from international commerce to the settlement of invoices in supply chains. Retailers can also exploit these CBDCs to expedite customer service and loyalty programs by employing a single multicurrency wallet to store customers' payment information.

A further investigation into CBDC-based customer loyalty programs finds tremendous potential benefits, particularly for smaller retail establishments. Loyalty programs that are simple to use have the potential to pique customers' interest in these companies. On the other hand, in the absence of such programs, these companies could be overlooked by a significant portion of the potential customers.

Also of note, the central banks of Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have announced plans to work together to regulate digital currencies and other forms of financial technology.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash