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Exploring Digital Currencies Across the Middle East and Africa in 2024

The Fintech Times

The idea that digital assets are exclusively some form of currency has been slowly dispelled, as new use cases emerge and are rapidly adopted across the globe. But digital currencies are far from irrelevant. CBDC overview across the MEA region in 2024 But why are so many countries adopting CBDC initiatives?

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RAKBANK Completes International CBDC Transaction Using eCNY and Digital Dirham

The Fintech Times

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have a lot of potential to uproot the cross-border payments market. RAKBANK has successfully exchanged a remittance using China’s digital Yuan (eCNY) in exchange for the Digital Dirham, the UAE’s CBDC.

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MAS to Explore Wholesale CBDC for Settlement Among Series of Tokenisation Plans

Fintech News

Access to a common settlement facility is also being facilitated through the SGD Testnet, featuring S$ wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) for market testing.

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Bank of Thailand Concludes Retail CBDC Pilot Programme, Reveals Key Findings

Fintech News

As digital technologies continue to transform the financial landscape, central banks worldwide are exploring the potential of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The project evolved, incorporating enhanced functionalities, cross-border fund transfers, and a Corporate CBDC Pilot Program.

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Bank of Canada Puts CBDC Development on Ice: Is This Indicative of Global CBDC Demise?

The Fintech Times

While 134 countries and currency unions, representing 98 per cent of global GDP, are currently exploring a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the Bank of Canada has revealed it is officially putting efforts to introduce a digital version of the Canadian dollar on pause. But what would spark such a U-turn?

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Australia gives priority to wholesale CBDC over retail

Finextra

The Reserve Bank of Australia is to prioritise the issuance of a wholesale central bank digital currency over a retail CBDC, arguing that a clear business case for the latter has yet to emerge.

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JCB to begin Phase 2 trials of offline CBDC

Finextra

Japanese card issuer JCB is moving to Phase 2 of a pilot to trial offline P2P payments for a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

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