Hong Kong Monetary Authority
The HKMA started a pilot programme with 16 firms to test retail uses of an e-HKD, including programmable, offline and tokenised deposit payments and settlement of tokenised assets.
- Status
- Dead
- Announced
- (announcement)
- Stage
- Test
- Chain or network
- e-HKD Sandbox (HKMA-run; ledger technology not stated)
- Next review
- None
Scorecard
As of the review on . Changes since the previous review are marked. How pilots are scored
| Ledger | Unknown |
|---|---|
| Settlement | CBDC on the ledger |
| Access | Closed |
| Legal standing | Sandbox or exemption |
| Scale | Simulated |
What they said they would do
- MetShare the key learnings from the first round of pilots with the public at Hong Kong FinTech Week 2023.
- MetConduct more rounds of pilots with the industry in the future.
Decisions
Expanded
Phase 2 began with 11 groups of firms testing e-HKD and tokenised deposits, and the project was renamed Project e-HKD+.
Source: hkma.gov.hk
Ended
The HKMA completed the pilot programme, found the public saw e-HKD and tokenised deposits similarly, and moved its e-HKD work to wholesale payments.
Source: hkma.gov.hk
Review history
Live Test
The HKMA published the Phase 1 report on 14 pilots by the 16 firms and called them small-scale and controlled. Scale is recorded as simulated because the HKMA gives no real-value figures; published pilot volumes would settle it.
Evidence: hkma.gov.hk
Live Test
Phase 2 started with 11 groups and added tokenised deposits alongside e-HKD, meeting the claim of further pilot rounds. Rubric unchanged.
Evidence: hkma.gov.hk
Dead Test
The HKMA published the Phase 2 report, declared the programme complete and moved e-HKD work to wholesale uses. The retail pilot has ended.
Evidence: hkma.gov.hk
What was announced
On 18 May 2023 the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) started the e-HKD Pilot Programme with 16 firms from banking, payments and technology. The pilots covered six categories: full payments, programmable payments, offline payments, tokenised deposits, settlement of Web3 transactions and settlement of tokenised assets. The HKMA said it had not decided whether to issue a retail e-HKD, and committed to share findings at Hong Kong FinTech Week 2023 and to run further rounds.
How it works
Participants built and tested use cases on an HKMA e-HKD Sandbox. The HKMA did not publish the ledger technology, so ledger is unknown. The money being tested is a retail central bank digital currency, so settlement is cbdc. Only selected firms took part, so access is closed, and the whole programme ran under the HKMA’s sandbox, so legal is sandbox. The HKMA described the Phase 1 pilots as small-scale and controlled and gave no real-value figures, so the entry records simulated scale and test stage throughout.
Record so far
The HKMA published the Phase 1 report on 30 October 2023, covering 14 pilots. It found possible value in programmability, tokenisation and atomic settlement, and said larger tests would be needed. That met the first claim.
Phase 2 began on 23 September 2024 with 11 groups across tokenised asset settlement, programmability and offline payments. It compared e-HKD with tokenised deposits and renamed the project e-HKD+. That met the second claim.
On 28 October 2025 the HKMA published the Phase 2 report and declared the programme complete. Its key finding was that the public treated e-HKD and tokenised deposits much the same. It concluded that the priority for e-HKD lies outside retail for now and moved its work to wholesale payments. It said preparatory legal and technical work for a possible future retail e-HKD would finish in the first half of 2026. The retail pilot is recorded as dead: the HKMA ended it.
What to watch
The wholesale e-HKD continues in Project Ensemble and in the HKEX and HKMA after-hours margin pilot announced on 18 June 2026; those belong in separate entries. A decision by the HKMA to restart retail e-HKD trials would be a new pilot.