The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) recently announced the launch of the Cyber Hong Kong Dollar pilot project, a central bank digital currency (CBDC) that has 16 selected companies from the financial payment and technology sectors participating in initial trials to test the feasibility of the e-HKD. Among these firms are industry heavyweights such as Alibaba Group’s Alipay Financial, Mastercard Asia, Ripple Labs, Visa, and HSBC.
This digital currency will begin with six potential use cases, including comprehensive payments, programmable payments, offline payments, tokenized deposits, Web 3.0 transaction settlements, and tokenized asset settlements. However, the HKMA has yet to decide whether to officially launch the CBDC, with results from the trials expected to be shared at Hong Kong Fintech Week 2023 in Q4.
Another piece of news for the crypto industry was the publication of cryptocurrency exchange Bitget’s first-quarter update. The exchange achieved $59 billion and $658 billion in spot and futures traded, representing growth rates of 8% and 27% compared to Q4 2022. Bitget academy plans to commit $10 million over five years to launch a Blockchain4Youth initiative, offering blockchain courses and certifications in partnership with universities worldwide.
On the other hand, controversy surrounds Huobi Global as Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain, accused Wei Li, the brother of Huobi Global’s co-founder Leon Li, of receiving millions of Huobi tokens through “abnormal means” and cashing out. Sun seeks the return and destruction of these tokens, which Wei’s brother Leon Li said would be done if evidence was provided. If the allegations are false, Leon hopes to have the user’s assets returned.
Attention was also garnered by Superpower Squad (SQUAD), an NFT multiplayer online battle arena game. On May 17, its token price surged over 300% to a high of $0.017 apiece, though no material news seems to be associated with this development. Nevertheless, Superpower Squad’s developers are preparing two new game modes, which may attract further interest from gamers and NFT enthusiasts.
As the crypto market continues to grow and attract interest from a variety of industries, the development of a digital Hong Kong dollar and the success of cryptocurrency exchanges reflect the potential that blockchain technology holds. While controversies and regulatory challenges still exist in the space, the industry forges ahead with promising innovations and new use cases.
Source: Cointelegraph
