The Digital Dollar Project is a private initiative founded in January 2020 by Accenture and former Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) J. Christopher Giancarlo’s Digital Dollar Foundation. Last year Accenture agreed to fund five of the DDP’s CBDC pilot programs. Turning to the DTCC, its subsidiaries processed $2.4 quadrillion in securities transactions in 2021. “As a potential digital alternative to cash, a U.S. CBDC should be carefully explored in consultation with key stakeholders across the public and private sectors,” said Jennifer Peve, DTCC Managing Director, Head of Strategy and Business Development. “DTCC’s pilot with DDP assessed the use of a simulated CBDC and DLT for DvP settlement in the U.S. wholesale markets through direct engagement with market participants.” (Ledgerinsights)

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced Tuesday that “the first pilot for retail digital rupee (e₹-R)” will launch on Dec. 1. This announcement followed the RBI’s wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot which began on Nov. 1.

Eight banks will participate, and the pilot will initially be carried out in four cities.

Central banks around the globe are racing to speed up the process of developing and launching the digital versions of their official national currencies.

France and Luxembourg have used an experimental central bank digital currency (CBDC) to settle a bond worth 100 million euros ($104 million), the latest in a series of trials in tokenized financial markets.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to launch the first pilot for its retail digital Rupee on December 1, 2022. <a href="https://coingape.com/cbdc-india-rbi-drop-final-date-for-pilot-launch-of-digital-rupee/">India’s digital Rupee (e₹)</a> initiative is aimed at specific use cases. In case of this pilot, the country’s authorities will be testing settlement of secondary market transactions in government securities. While the Indian government faced criticism for imposing high taxes on retail crypto trade, the usage of e-Rupee is seen as a welcome move in the community. The latest initiative is aimed at making inter-bank market more efficient.

The Reserve Bank of India will start testing its retail central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital rupee, in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar with the initial participation of four banks: State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank, it announced Tuesday.

Roberto Campos Neto, president of the Bank of Brazil, explained the role that the Brazilian central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital real, might play in the future of personal finance. At an event, Neto explained the concept of “open finance,” showing a “super app” that featured PIX (a payments network) functionality, and also integration with other stablecoins already available.

The National Bank of Ukraine is considering a future electronic version of the Ukrainian hryvnia that can facilitate virtual asset exchange, issuance and other operations.

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has introduced a draft concept for its central bank digital currency (CBDC) candidate digital hryvnia, or e-hryvnia.