Hong Kong is about to launch a second trial of retail e-HKD for mortgage distribution and pricing.
According to the South China Morning Post, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is getting ready to start a new round of testing for its virtual currency, e-HKD.
The HKMA intends to test e-HKD this time around with a small group of players in mechanisms like mortgage distribution and pricing in the area. According to the report, which quotes the HKMA, Hong Kong residents may be able to borrow money at favorable rates from many lenders and benefit from quicker approval and disbursement via e-HKD.
However, it’s still being determined if the area will establish a new regulatory organization to supervise any actions regarding mortgages and lending procedures employing e-HKD.
During their early pilot programs, a number of Hong Kong-based financial institutions, such as ZA Bank and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), have already shown interest in this use case.
According to estimates from the BCG, e-HKD might be used to tokenized assets, digitizing assets worth about $4.6 trillion, mostly real estate. China recently launched its first pilot program outside of the mainland in Hong Kong, launching the digital yuan, or e-CNY, simultaneously with the pilot program acceleration.
Residents of Hong Kong can top their digital wallets with up to 10,000 CNY (about $1,385) through 17 retail banks in Hong Kong, including Standard Chartered Bank, ZA Bank, and DBS Bank. The digital yuan is now undergoing trials for cross-border payments.
