MAS and New York Fed collaborate to experiment with wCBDCs


Singapore MAS and New York Fed
Collaborate to experiment with wCBDCs for potential improvements to cross
border payments. A cooperative experiment with wholesale central bank digital
currencies (wCBDCs) will be introduced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore
(MAS) and the New York Innovation Center (NYIC) of the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York.
The regulators will experiment with
the potential of wCBDC to improve efficiency and reduce the risk of cross-border
foreign exchange settlement involving multiple currencies. This study aims to
assess the possibility of reducing settlement risk through wCBDC which is the
key pain point in cross-border cross-currency transactions.
Recently MAS declared the launch
of Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin+. By leveraging wCBDCs as settlement assets,
Project Cedar Phase II x Ubin+ will improve designs for atomic settlement of
cross-border cross-currency transactions as part of its framework. Through the
establishment of connectivity among multiple heterogeneous simulated currency
ledgers, settlement risk can be significantly reduced. In 2023, a report
detailing the experiment and the project's findings will be released.
A report on the first phase of
Project Cedar was released by NYIC on Nov 4. Spot transactions between
different currencies on different ledgers over a permissioned blockchain
network with an output mechanism for an unspent transaction model were
conducted during the first phase.
Michelle Neal, Executive Vice
President and Head of Markets at the NY Fed, stated at a presentation in
Singapore that the Fed has looked into foreign exchange spot settlement
"from the standpoint of the Federal Reserve," but that it still has
no intentions to issue a CBDC.
The New York Innovation Center
division is part of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York got launched in 2021.
It was established in partnership with the Bank for International Settlements
Innovation Hub
About Monetary Authority of
Singapore :
In Singapore, the Monetary
Authority of Singapore (MAS) is the central bank and financial regulator. Through
the conduct of monetary policy and close macroeconomic surveillance, the MAS
promotes sustained, non-inflationary economic growth. The bank manages
Singapore's exchange rate, foreign reserves, and banking liquidity.
Additionally, MAS works with the financial industry to promote Singapore as a
dynamic international financial hub.

Indrani bose
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA