During a rally in New Hampshire, Donald Trump reiterated his opposition to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), stating that he will never allow their creation. He referred to crypto-friendly candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who recently suspended his campaign after a disappointing showing in Iowa. Trump has previously expressed concerns that a CBDC would give the federal government absolute control over people's money. With the suspension of Ramaswamy and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who also criticized CBDCs, digital assets may now take a back seat in the 2024 U.S. presidential race. However, voters in Florida have shown interest in the topic, according to a report by CoinDesk.

Egypt plans to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC), known as the electronic pound, by 2030. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will issue this digital currency, which is expected to increase the competitiveness of Egypt's domestic currency and improve the efficiency of monetary policy.A research report commissioned by the Egyptian Ministerial Council for Information and Decision Support Center explains the details of the North African country's CBDC goals. The document, called "The Most Important Strategic Directions of the Egyptian Economy During the New Presidential Period (2024-2030)," identifies policies that will be crucial to the Egyptian economy over the next six years.In addition to making the launch of CBDC one of its priorities, the document also urges Egyptian monetary authorities to continue developing the financial sector. Like the launch of CBDC, its goal is to help Egypt achieve 100% financial inclusion by 2030.

Di Gang, deputy director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, stated that the pilot scope of the digital yuan has been expanded to 26 pilot areas in 17 provinces and cities. The application scenarios of the digital yuan have extended from personal consumption scenarios to public enterprise services such as salary payments, inclusive loans, green finance, as well as government services such as finance, taxation, public utilities, e-government, and poverty alleviation, providing strong support for the implementation of national strategies and financial services to the real economy.

Benjamin, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, stated that there is no conclusive answer yet regarding the question of whether a central bank digital currency may be needed in the future.

The Bank of Spain (BDE) publicly called for partners to test central bank digital currency (CBDC) a year ago. On January 3, 2023, the Bank of Spain announced a resolution, declaring a partnership with Cecabank, Abanca, and Adhara Blockchain.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved the Africa Stablecoin Consortium (ASC) to conduct a cNGN stablecoin pilot in its regulatory sandbox, with the cNGN stablecoin set to launch on February 27, 2024. The ASC, composed of multiple banks and fintech operators in Nigeria, stated that the cNGN stablecoin meets the regulatory requirements and standards set by the CBN, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit. The ASC is working with regulatory agencies to ensure compliance, consumer protection measures, and transparency. It is reported that the cNGN stablecoin is a complementary product to the Central Bank of Nigeria's digital currency eNaira, rather than a substitute. The ASC will be responsible for supervising the cNGN stablecoin.

The Reserve Bank of India's digital currency, the digital rupee, surpassed 1 million transactions in a single day on December 27, 2023. Shaktikanta Das, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), wrote in a letter to employees on December 29 that the daily usage of the electronic rupee (CBDC) had "surpassed the milestone of 1 million transactions," and a bank participating in the electronic rupee pilot program encouraged its use for employee funds and benefits instead of using existing fiat currencies.

In July of last year, Rabi Sankar, the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), set a target for the daily transaction volume of the digital rupee to reach 1 million transactions by 2023. At that time, the transaction volume of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) was only 10,000 per day. Local media reported that the company achieved this milestone on December 27, 2023.

The Russian tax authorities will start using digital rubles for taxation from 2025, and banks will be given the power to prevent "suspicious" CBDC transactions. According to Klerk, the latest tax law amendment signed by Russian President Putin at the end of last year states that the Russian tax authorities will "switch to using digital rubles for taxation from 2025". The media added that the Ministry of Finance hopes to "start paying pensions and other social benefits with digital rubles". As part of the expanded pilot program, government agencies promise to actively adopt digital rubles in 2024.

75 US lawmakers have now supported the CBDC Anti-Surveillance Act. Representative Tom Emmer, who proposed the bill, wrote on X platform on Saturday: "I have introduced the CBDC Anti-Surveillance National Act to protect Americans' financial privacy rights, and it has 75 legislative supporters. We will continue to gain more support." Emmer emphasized: "Unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies, central bank digital currencies are digital forms of sovereign currencies designed and issued by governments, and traded on government-controlled digital ledgers. In short, central bank digital currencies are programmable currencies controlled by governments, and if not designed to mimic cash, they may enable the US federal government to monitor and restrict Americans' transactions." <br>