The false positive problem in anti mone y laundering (AML) enforcement rarely makes headlines. Yet for every criminal that AML procedures identify, they generate tens of thousands of alerts that disrupt, delay or block entirely legitimate transactions. As SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has observed, “the sledgehammer has become the tool of choice for monitoring for financial …
BIS report on AML uniformity: Who pays the price? Read More »
For years the Bank of Japan has operated a retail CBDC research initiative with seven working groups and 64 companies involved. That research has continued despite comments last year that there’s no need for a launch. In early February this year, as part of the ongoing CBDC Forum, central bank director Kazushige Kamiyama said that the …
Image by Ledger Insights During a meeting at the Italian banker’s association ABI, European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board member Piero Cipollone revealed a few new details about the digital euro. Firstly, a pilot is planned for mid 2027, provided the central bank digital currency (CBDC) gets the regulatory go ahead this year. It’s unclear whether …
Image by Ledger Insights As part of a recent Deutsche Börse paper on the European capital markets union, the company called for a permanent wholesale CBDC (wCBDC). This follows a series of wholesale DLT settlement trials that ended last November. Twice during the last couple of weeks, ECB Director Piero Cipollone has stated that a short …
ECB responds to market calls for permanent wholesale CBDC including from Deutsche Börse Read More »
Image by Ledger Insights The Bank of Israel conducted a thoughtful survey process for its Digital Shekel central bank digital currency (CBDC). It found that 51% of respondents had either a high or intermediate interest in the digital currency. Some of the responses received contrasted with other CBDC surveys. For example, privacy did not rank …
Digital shekel CBDC survey finds considerable user interest, especially if remunerated Read More »
Image by Ledger Insights The initial rollout of Russia’s retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) was originally planned for 1 July 2025, but the launch was postponed until 1 September 2026. However, federal government departments can use the digital ruble starting 1 January 2026, with the Ministry of Finance defining the types of permitted payments …
Russia clears digital ruble for government usage starting January 2026 Read More »
Image by Ledger Insights This coming Monday’s Eurogroup meeting will include a discussion about tokenization, DLT and central bank money for wholesale settlement, as well as the status of the retail digital euro. The Eurogroup is an informal body of economic and finance ministers that meet to discuss issues relating to the euro currency. Mr …
EU finance ministers to discuss tokenization, wholesale DLT settlement Read More »
Image by Ledger Insights In September the Korean press reported that the central bank was preparing for a tokenized deposit trial targeting around 100,000 people. It follows the Bank of Korea announcing formal plans for such a trial a year ago, in combination with a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) for interbank settlement. Yesterday …
Bank of Korea signs agreement with regulators for CBDC, tokenized deposit trials Read More »
Image by Ledger Insights After the U.S. government blocked Google from working with Chinese technology firm Huawei, it developed its own operating system, Harmony OS, which drops compatibility with Google’s Android. It previously announced plans to integrate with the digital yuan, but now it has done it, incorporating the central bank digital currency (CBDC) at …
Huawei mobile OS Harmony embeds digital yuan so don’t need CBDC app Read More »
Image by Ledger Insights On Friday the European Central Bank launched a consultation on extending the hours of T2, its main real time gross settlement (RTGS) system. DLT payments and the digital euro are one of the considerations, although not the primary driver of the plans. T2 already operates 22.5 hours a day, but consumer …
ECB consults on extending RTGS hours – could help DLT payments, digital euro Read More »
