In May of this year, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced the launch of the pilot programme for the e-HKD Pilot Programme (e-HKD).

Sixteen companies from the financial, payment, and technology sectors were selected to undergo the initial round of testing this year.

This initiative aims to extensively explore the potential use cases of eHKD in various aspects, such as comprehensive payments, programmable payments, offline payments, tokenized deposits, Web3 transaction settlements, and tokenized asset settlements.

In May of this year, Ripple announced a partnership with Fubon Bank to establish a real estate tokenization scheme using e-HKD, which was selected as a pilot case for the e-HKD Pilot Programme.

Regarding tokenized asset settlement, Ripple conducted and updated this programme on the 26th of the month, exploring solutions for real estate tokenization.

All test results will be announced during the first week of November's Hong Kong Fintech Week.

The Value of eHKD

Ross Edwards, Senior Director, Client Solutions and Delivery, CBDC at Ripple, stated,

"This trial is not a competition to determine the best use case, but rather to connect different use cases to discover the value of CBDC. This is the primary task at this stage."

Edwards explained that most current use cases are related to payments, and to use CBDC, there must first be a way to receive it.

Their real estate tokenization solution involves issuing loans in e-HKD that providing a method for distributing e-HKD, which can be integrated with other payment use cases in the future.

Ripple Aligns with the Hong Kong Government

Mr. Joseph Chan, the Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, said,

"Hong Kong's fintech industry is entering a new era, where it is no longer solely about technology but also its real-life application."

Rahul Advani, Policy Director, APAC at Ripple, stated:

"Ripple will provide the underlying technology for tokenization. In addition to real estate tokenization, we are also focusing on areas like securities tokenization and intellectual property tokenization.”

This demonstrates Ripple's strong confidence in Hong Kong. We believe their proactive approach will also drive the development of other enterprises in Hong Kong.

HKSFC Restores Investor Confidence

Rahul Advani, Policy Director, APAC at Ripple, also stated:

"After the implementation of regulations regarding virtual asset trading platforms in June this year, customers have shown even greater interest in our solutions. The existing clear regulations by the SFC have made the market more aware of the legal status of virtual assets in Hong Kong. Additionally, more traditional banks are starting to embrace blockchain technology."

He also mentioned,

"The HKMA and the SFC are very open to discussing relevant technologies. They are one of the more progressive regulatory bodies in the Asia-Pacific region."

Learning from the Scam of JPEX

Since the JPEX scandal, many investors have seen a significant drop in confidence regarding cryptocurrency development in Hong Kong.

However, this incident has compelled the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (HKSFC) to greatly enhance the transparency of regulatory provisions.

They have also been diligent in updating the list of companies with licence applications and their approval statuses. This shows the proactive efforts of the HKSFC in rectifying various loopholes to restore investor confidence.

After all, it was just at the end of last year that Hong Kong made a significant announcement to promote the development of cryptocurrencies in the region.