Mojo Builds for Hong Kong CBDC

Could Hong Kong get a digital dollar?

That’s what Wu Jiezhuang, a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, is calling for. The lawmaker wants Beijing to green-light the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the semi-autonomous regime, and eventually turn it into a stablecoin. He also pushed for the launch of a “Virtual asset rating agency.”

Digital Dollars

“The Hong Kong government can consider whether the issuance of digital Hong Kong dollars can be connected with these decentralized finance and become an important infrastructure component of the virtual asset trading platform,” Jiezhuang said in a Jan. 5 interview with Weixin, a Chinese media outlet on Wednesday.

Hong Kong began conducting preliminary trials for its digital dollar, dubbed the e-HKD, last quarter. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said the trials ensure the city is competitive with rival central banks that are making moves to merge fiat currency with distributed ledger technology.

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The Defiant

The lawmaker said his measures are designed to bolster investors’ trust in Hong Kong’s web3 industry. This includes promoting technologies such as tokenizing green bonds to address climate change and using nonfungible tokens for real-world economic applications.

“What we really need are Web3 projects that use technological innovation to solve practical problems and integrate with the real economy,” Jiezhuang said.

The Legislative Council of Hong Kong is a 90-member body that governs the metropolis of 7M residents under the auspices of the mainland government in Beijing.

Vibrant

Jiezhuang said the number of web3 startups seeking to set up shop in Hong Kong increased after the Oct. 31 publication of the Policy Declaration on the Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong.

The document outlines Hong Kong’s plan to develop a “vibrant” virtual asset sector over the coming years. “The Government is open to future review on property rights for tokenized assets and the legality of smart contracts, so as to facilitate their development in Hong Kong,” it added.

Jiezhuang said the move came in response to many Chinese web3 developers basing their operations in other jurisdictions including Singapore, North America, and Dubai.