The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) outlined its 2025–26 plans for its digital rupee central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilots in its 2024-25 Annual Report. In 2024-25 the pilots tested offline and programmable functionalities, including use cases such as direct benefit transfers, agricultural loans, and targeted employee allowances. These pilots have been extended to public schemes, like direct benefit transfers to farmers against generation of carbon credits and loans to tenant farmers in select locations. Looking ahead, discussions are ongoing with central and state agencies to scale programmable CBDC for defined-use fund transfers. Also, the RBI plans to explore both bilateral and multilateral cross-border CBDC pilots, especially given India’s role as a leading remittance recipient. The upcoming agenda also includes testing new designs, technologies, and use cases such as asset tokenization.
Reserve Bank of India CBDC Pilots Update
FCA seeks further views on stablecoins and crypto custody
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper that outlines a proposed regulatory framework for the issuance of fiat-referenced stablecoins and the custody of qualifying crypto-assets. The framework focuses on establishing clear rules to ensure the stability, transparency, and redemption rights of stablecoins, mandating that issuers back tokens 1:1 with secure, liquid assets held in statutory trust by independent custodians. Custodians must also segregate and safeguard client assets under trust arrangements. The proposals aim to enhance consumer protection, market integrity, and innovation, while aligning with global standards. The FCA plans further consultations on conduct, prudential, and governance standards, and encourages industry feedback by July 31, 2025.
Circle Files IPO on NYSE at $6.7 Billion Valuation
USDC stablecoin issuer Circle filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer 24 million shares for $24 to $26 each. The firm is targeting a $6.7 billion fully diluted valuation. Circle is expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CRCL. USDC was launched by Circle and Coinbase in 2018 via the Centre Consortium. Coinbase, which went public in 2021, took an equity stake in Circle in August 2023 amid the dissolution of the consortium. In April, Bloomberg reported that Ripple made a $4-5 billion offer for Circle, but was rebuffed due to the offer being too low. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250526853758/en/Circle-Launches-Initial-Public-Offering
Competing digital monies
In a University of Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) working paper, Jon Frost (BIS), Jean-Charles Rochet, Huyn Song Shin (BIS), and Marianne Verdier analyzed the competition between three digital payment instruments: bank deposits, private stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Using a theoretical model grounded in two-sided market economics, the authors explore how market structure and social welfare are affected by “walled gardens” (non-interoperable payment ecosystems) versus interoperable systems such as central bank-operated fast payment systems (FPS) or CBDCs. They find that both CBDCs and FPS can increase financial inclusion, raise trade volumes, and enhance welfare—though they may reduce the market share of traditional financial intermediaries and paradoxically lead to higher merchant fees due to decreased price elasticity. The paper concludes that, in many cases, a well-designed FPS may offer similar benefits to a retail CBDC, suggesting that countries with robust FPS infrastructure may not urgently need a CBDC.
USDF Consortium Reportedly Shuttered
The USDF Consortium, launched in 2022 to create a US dollar stablecoin-based interbank payment system on a permissionless blockchain, has reportedly closed down. The original idea was that its USDF tokens would be redeemable at any of the participant community banks. The banks involved were New York Community Bank, Synovus, Bank, Sterling National Bank, FirstBank, and NBH Bank. Under regulatory pressure, it moved to a private chain until it became clear that regulators still didn’t want it to proceed and so it reportedly shuttered late last year. However, its website (usdfconsortium.com) is currently displaying a "maintenance mode is on... site will be available soon" message, so maybe it's not so dead?
Big Banks Explore Venturing Into Crypto World Together With Joint Stablecoin
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) a consortium of the biggest U.S. banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, are in the early conceptual stages of exploring issuing a joint stablecoin. Early Warning Services, the operator of the Zelle peer-to-peer payment system, and The Clearing House payments network, are also reportedly involved. Early Warning Services, which runs the Zelle instant payments system, is owned by Bank of America, Capital One, JP Morgan Chase, PNC Bank, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo. The Clearing House is owned by 22 banks which include the same ones as Early Warning Services, but also Bank of New York, Citigroup and many international banks such as Barclays, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Santander.
Second MOF/BOJ Interim Report on a Japanese CBDC
Japan's Ministry of Finance (MOF) published the second interim report of the joint task force with various government ministries and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) on central bank digital currency (CBDC). The primary focus is on three main themes; (i) the legal framework (private law), (ii) privacy and data utilization, and (iii) the roles and division of labor with private payment systems. (In Japanese)
Hong Kong passes stablecoin bill, one step closer to issuance
Hong Kong's legislature passed the Stablecoin Bill that establishes a licensing regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong, providing regulatory clarity for upcoming stablecoin issuers. Under the new regime, any person who issues stablecoins in Hong Kong - or issues stablecoins backed by Hong Kong dollars, whether within or outside the city - must obtain a license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The relevant parties must satisfy the requirements in areas such as reserve asset management and redemption, including proper segregation of client assets, maintaining a robust stabilization mechanism, and processing stablecoin holders’ requests for redemption at par value with reasonable conditions. They must also comply with requirements in relation to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, risk management, disclosure and auditing, and fitness and propriety. The ordinance is expected to come into effect by the end of 2025. https://www.news.gov.hk/eng/2025/05/20250521/20250521_170205_430.html
Designing the Future of Money: The Case for Multiple CBDCs
Banco de la República Colombia (BRC) published a paper that explores how central banks can optimize the design of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) by introducing multiple variants with varying degrees of anonymity and interest rates. The authors examine the trade-offs between anonymity and security and assess the welfare outcomes in economies with and without cash. They find that when anonymity-related externalities (e.g., illicit activity) are high, a cashless society with multiple optimally designed CBDCs maximizes welfare. Even when anonymity costs are absent, a cashless system with one additional CBDC still outperforms systems retaining cash. The study emphasizes the flexibility of multiple CBDCs in tailoring monetary instruments to diverse user preferences while minimizing societal costs, and argues that careful CBDC design can enhance financial stability and efficiency more effectively than static cash-based systems.
Stablecoin Self-Regulation
The paper "Stablecoin Self-Regulation" by Federal Reserve Board (FRB) Principal Economist Francesca Carapella proposes a self-enforcing, market-based alternative to traditional regulation for addressing the fragility of stablecoin issuers. It models an economy where stablecoins and banks coexist, both facing limited commitment to redeem liabilities. To mitigate this, the author introduces a voluntary, two-part mechanism: (1) a loss mutualization fund and (2) costly one-period membership titles that issuers must purchase to insure their obligations. This structure aligns with how central counterparties (CCPs) manage risk. The paper finds that this self-regulatory approach can improve financial stability more effectively than current legislative proposals, which often ignore the indirect impact of regulation on traditional financial institutions and lack key disciplining features. Notably, integrating stablecoin issuers under bank regulation may reduce banks' incentive to offer insured deposits, potentially increasing systemic risk.
What Characteristics Make Countries Endeavor CBDC Projects?
Communications of the Association for Information Systems (CAIS) published a study that investigates the factors that drive countries to develop central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects. The research combines quantitative analysis of data from 68 countries with a qualitative analysis of CBDC white papers. The findings indicate that a country's political regime, economic freedom, and perceived corruption significantly influence its decision to develop CBDCs. Specifically, countries with more autocratic political systems, less economic freedom, and higher perceived corruption are more likely to pursue CBDC projects.https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/news/news-articles/2025/05/political-motives-behind-global-adoption-of-central-bank-digital-currency-revealed-in-new-study
Enabling Central Bank Money Settlement and Collateral Eligibility for DLT-based Securities
The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) published a paper outlining two critical steps needed to scale distributed ledger technology (DLT) in capital markets in the European Union. First is the urgent need for a settlement solution for tokenized assets using central bank money. Secondly, AFME wants to see tokenized securities being considered eligible as collateral when banks borrow money from their central bank.
Open source software and central bank digital currency
The Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust (LFDT) published a report on open source development’s role in central bank projects, and examples of the tech in action in CBDC implementations around the world. LFDT is the umbrella organization launched in September 2024 for the open development of a broad range of ledger, identity, security, interoperability, scale, implementation, and related technologies at the Linux Foundation. It encompasses the growing portfolio of Hyperledger projects and hosts new open source software, communities, standards, and specifications that are critical to the macro shift toward decentralized systems of distributed trust. https://www.lfdecentralizedtrust.org/announcements/linux-foundation-decentralized-trust-launches-with-17-projects-100-founding-members
Reserve Bank of Australia Project Acacia WCBDC Update
The Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC), a joint enterprise of the Australian Treasury, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), academic institutions, banks and other Australian private sector financial organizations, published an update on its wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) backed tokenized deposit experiments. There are currently about five proof-of-concept and about twenty pilot tokenization experiments being considered, and they are considering four different networks for the CBDC, one of them being public permissioned (Redbelly). On the private permissioned side, they are looking at Ethereum (or EVM-compatible), Hedera, and R3 Corda.
Stablecoin Sector Analysis
Coinmetrics published a report that report that examines the stablecoin sector, now over $230 billion in total market cap, and break down the wide range of stablecoin types, reserve models, issuing entities, and blockchain networks facilitating their use. It maps the evolving stablecoin landscape, identify key use cases, and assess the opportunities and risks that lie ahead.
Bolivian central bank considering CBDC issuance
Banco Central de Bolivia (BCB) reportedly confirmed that it is looking into the possibility of issuing a digital boliviano at its XVIII "Monetary Policy in the Digital Age" conference. BCB President Edwin explained that technical workshops have already been held with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as part of the establishment of an operational base for a future digital version of the national currency. The main motivations would be to improve the efficiency of the payment system, promote financial inclusion and maintain monetary stability and digital sovereignty in the face of expanding interest in cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=674885951958688&rdid=aRWlAELsNdPpMCLo
Stripe accelerates the utility of stablecoins
Stripe launched Stablecoin Financial Accounts, new money management capabilities powered by stablecoins, which will be accessible to businesses in 101 countries. This comes three months after Stripe completed its acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge. With these new accounts, businesses will be able to hold a balance in stablecoins, receive funds on both crypto and fiat rails (like ACH and SEPA), and send stablecoins almost anywhere in the world. These accounts will allow entrepreneurs in countries with volatile currencies to hedge against inflation and more easily access the global economy. Stripe will start by supporting two dollar-denominated stablecoins—USDC and Bridge’s USDB—and plans to add others over time.
An empirical analysis of cross-border Bitcoin, Ether and stablecoin flows
The BIS published the results of an empirical investigation of trends and drivers of cross-border flows of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) between 184 countries from 2017 to 2024. These flows are substantial, peaking at around $2.6 trillion in 2021, with the two stablecoins (USDT and USDC) accounting for close to half the volume. The unique bilateral data allow for the estimation the drivers of these flows in a gravity framework, and how they differ across different types of crypto-assets. The findings highlight speculative motives and global funding conditions as key drivers of native crypto-asset flows. Transactional motives play a significant role in cross-border flows for stablecoins and low-value BTC transactions, where a strong association with higher costs of traditional remittances is found.
Bank of Israel launches digital shekel technological consultation
The Bank of Israel of Israel (BOI) launched the technological consultation process for the digital shekel. Technology experts, academics, potential vendors are invited to help the BOI deepen its understanding of the technological feasibility and potential implementation of key components of the digital shekel system. It outlined six technological consultations, each focusing on a different component derived from preliminary design white paper published in March 2025; backend layer, secure transaction messages and communication, offline capabilities, payment authorization (secure containers and cryptographic key management), alias management, and fraud monitoring. Submissions are due by June 30, 2025.
70 organizations join ECB's digital euro innovation platform
The European Central Bank (ECB) launched its digital euro innovation platform, and almost seventy organizations have signed up to participate. The platform simulates the envisaged digital euro ecosystem, in which the ECB provides the technical support and infrastructure, such as an application programming interface (API), for European intermediaries to independently develop innovative digital payment features and services. Findings will be published by the ECB in a report to be published later this year. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2025/html/ecb.pr250505~00207689f9.en.html
Kyrgyzstan's Gold-Backed USD-Pegged Stablecoin USDKG to Debut in Q3
The Kyrgyz Ministry of Finance reportedly plans to launch a gold-backed stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar in Q3 2025. The Gold Dollar (USDKG) will initially be backed by $500 million and be designed to facilitate seamless cross-border transfers. The Ministry aims to expand the gold reserves to as much as $2 billion, with independent audits planned to ensure trust and transparency in the collateral backing. All operational responsibilities—including gold custody, collateralization processes, and token issuance controls— will be handled by an independent Kyrgyz-registered private entity. https://www.usdkg.com/
Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC) on digital money
The U.S. Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC) published an overview of the potential terminal effects risks of interest-bearing stablecoins and tokenized money funds, from a perspective of Treasury demand, USD hegemony, the expansion of dollar-backed payment stablecoins, and potential effects for insured depository institutions. Also, it's worth taking a look at Coindesk's monthly report of central bank digital currency (CBDC) and stablecoins for useful presentations of the raw data. https://data.coindesk.com/reports/stablecoins-cbdcs-report-2-april
How will the digital euro work?
This article provides an overview on how a digital euro is intended to work. An examination of the prospective design features and architecture of the digital euro reveals the complexity of the project and the challenges associated with integrating the digital euro into the existing payment landscape. In order to justify the huge investments from both the Eurosystem and the private sector, a high adoption rate by users is essential. Therefore, a digital euro needs to offer a competitive advantage over existing electronic payment instruments, which could refer to the unique scope comprising online and offline transactions as well as the trust of retail customers in the Eurosystem. Hence, a convincing communication strategy is needed to convey these benefits of a digital euro. Moreover, banks and other payment service providers need to have sufficient economic incentives to distribute the digital euro to their customers and to provide acquiring services to merchants.
Cash and catastrophe: are notes and coins really the best backup?
David Birch argues that, contrary to popular belief, cash is not always the most resilient payment method during disasters such as fires, floods, or wars. Drawing on real-world examples-from Japanese tsunamis and Nigerian market fires to the ongoing war in Ukraine-the author shows that people relying on physical cash often suffer greater losses, while digital payment systems, especially those with offline capabilities, tend to be more robust as long as power and communications can be maintained. In Ukraine, for instance, the resilience of the payment system has been bolstered by widespread adoption of softPOS (mobile-based point-of-sale) and contactless technologies, even amid blackouts and cyberattacks. The article concludes that future-proofing payments should focus on enabling device-to-device digital transactions that work without network connectivity, such as offline central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), rather than simply stockpiling cash.
How to Design a Public Key Infrastructure for a CBDC
Makan Rafiee and Lars Hupel posted a paper that discusses the design requirements for a robust and scalable Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The authors argue that CBDC systems need dedicated PKI solutions rather than relying on existing infrastructure due to their unique security requirements. The proposed PKI design features a hierarchical certificate structure with the central bank as the trust anchor operating the Root Certificate Authority (CA). Three main certificate categories are introduced: Financial CA (for financial service providers), Hardware CA (for wallet manufacturers), and Operational CA (for central bank functions like minting and transaction validation). A key innovation is the rollover concept that addresses the challenge of certificate renewal for offline hardware wallets that may not connect to online services regularly. The solution uses a time-based approach with defined phases (ramp-up, active, and passive) to ensure continuous system operation despite regular certificate expirations. The paper emphasizes that this design accommodates the specific needs of CBDC ecosystems while maintaining high security standards and enabling seamless certificate management throughout the system's lifecycle.
Hyperledger in action: central bank digital currencies v2
The Linux Foundation published an updated report on how its open-source distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) are powering central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiatives globally. It explains the advantages of open source development for CBDC projects, emphasizing transparency, collaboration, and the adaptability of community-driven solutions. The paper also showcases projects using Hyperledger Fabric, Besu, Iroha, and other tools across various implementation stages—from research (European Central Bank, France, Norway) to pilots (India, Brazil, Philippines) to live deployments (Nigeria, Eastern Caribbean). These implementations demonstrate how open-source blockchain technologies can improve payment efficiency, enhance security, enable programmability through smart contracts, and support financial inclusion.
The Stablecoin Wars
Forbes published an article by Christian Catalini that examines the intensifying competition in the stablecoin market, where companies like PayPal, Coinbase, Circle, Tether, and even traditional financial giants like Visa and Mastercard are vying for dominance. Drawing an analogy to the commoditization of electricity, Catalini argues that stablecoins risk becoming undifferentiated utilities, with margins squeezed by competition and regulatory pressures. The two primary revenue levers for issuers -- reserve yields and transaction fees -- are both under threat as users demand higher returns and payment rails become commoditized. The "stablecoin sandwich" model (converting local currency to stablecoins for cross-border transfers, then back to local currency) represents current momentum, but Catalini predicts that only institutions closest to central banking, like banks themselves, will ultimately have the cost advantage in minting stablecoins. He concludes that the real winners won't necessarily be those creating the best stablecoins, but rather those controlling the distribution channels—the wallets, apps, and merchant relationships—through which these digital currencies flow.
Ripple $4B-$5B reported bid to purchase Circle rejected
Ripple has reportedly bid up to $5 billion in an effort to acquire stablecoin issuer Circle, but the offer was rejected because it was too low. The reported attempt came less than 30 days after Circle applied for an initial public offering (IPO) in the US. Ripple reportedly had an $11 billion valuation in 2024, an estimate CEO Brad Garlinghouse called “outdated” as of January. The blockchain company purchased prime broker Hidden Road for roughly $1.2 billion in April, claiming the move would help scale activity for XRP and XRP Ledger.
UK Treasury Unveils Draft Cryptoasset Regulations, Seeks Feedback by May 2025
"The UK Treasury (HMT) published a draft Statutory Instrument (SI) and a Policy Note detailing the UK’s upcoming financial services regulatory framework for crypto-assets, including stablecoins. Following proposals outlined in October 2023 and reaffirmed in November 2024, the draft SI establishes new regulated activities, such as operating crypto-asset trading platforms and issuing stablecoins, mandating authorization and oversight by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The Policy Note clarifies the intended policy outcomes, with additional provisions for market abuse and admissions and disclosures regimes to follow. The UK Treasury welcomes technical feedback on the draft SI until May 23, 2025, to refine the regulations." https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-cryptoasset-rules-to-drive-growth-and-protect-consumers
Assessing consumer CBDC adoption in Luxembourg: a micro-simulation approach
[January 2025] Banque Centrale du Luxembourg (BCL) published a paper that simulated consumer adoption of CBDC based on data from the 2022 Study on the Payment Attitudes of Consumers in the Euro area (SPACE) survey of payment habits. The micro-simulation classified 1% of consumers as cash-only, 22% as cash-preferring, 29% as cashless-preferring and 47% as cashless-only. Our theoretical results suggest that if CBDC is accepted by all retailers, then cashless-preferring consumers will adopt it instead of cash, but adoption by other consumers would also depend on CBDC design, cost, security and their use of credit cards. If CBDC transactions can be funded by drawing cash directly from the user’s bank payment account (i.e., via a "a waterfall" mechanism), 24% of the value of total payments will be in CBDC. If CBDC transactions can be funded via a direct link to consumer credit (e.g. drawing on the user’s credit card) 92% of total payment values will be made in CBDC.