Soramitsu, a Japanese fintech innovator, is developing a cross-border payment system for Asian countries that will use Cambodia's central bank digital currency, Bakong, as the foundation of an expanding international network. Soramitsu has been instrumental in the issuance and deployment of Asian CBDCs, including Bakong and Laos' Digital Lao Kip. Bakong has achieved significant milestones by enabling QR code-based digital payments between Cambodia and a variety of countries, with 8.5 million users and a transactional volume of around $15 billion.

Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization has gained significant traction in recent years, with RWAs emerging as the 10th largest sector in DeFi based on protocols tracked by DeFi Llama. The rise in the ranks of RWAs as a sector is a testament to the increasing adoption of RWA protocols, with stUSDT being a major factor catalyzing the trend. Tokenized US Treasuries have gained prominence in the RWA sector, with the tokenized treasury market holding an approximate value of $603 million.

Anatoly Aksakov, a leading Russian lawmaker, has suggested that China and Russia's CBDCs could be made compatible for international payments between the two nations. Aksakov, who is the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Markets, made the comments at a CBDC-related forum. He also stated that the digital ruble could be used for international payments and that it was necessary to introduce the new currency to the country in stages. Additionally, Denis Polyakov, the Deputy Director of the Department of the Russian Central Bank's National Payment System, claimed that the digital ruble would allow domestic businesses to reduce costs and ordinary citizens to make quick transfers without commission.

A recent survey found that 93% of central banks are interested in exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), with some considering issuance within the next three years. While there are currently three fully-fledged CBDCs in operation, including the eNaira in Nigeria and the Sand Dollar in the Bahamas, dozens of other countries are in the pilot or proof of concept phases.

Republican Representative Warren Davidson has called for a ban on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and for their development to be criminalized. He accused the Federal Reserve of creating a financial tool for coercion and control, and argued that money should not be programmable by a central authority. Davidson's comments came in response to a job advertisement by San Francisco's Federal Reserve Bank for a "senior crypto architect" to work on a CBDC project. Other politicians, including presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and Tom Emmer, have also expressed concerns about state-controlled digital money.

Ripple has partnered with Super How, a blockchain tech research lab based in Lithuania, to work on the Axiology project. The project aims to test and issue cryptocurrencies, including CBDCs and stablecoins, and boost regulators' confidence in their safety. Axiology is built on the XRP Ledger and provides new use cases for businesses to apply tokenization and utilization of cryptocurrencies. This partnership will help advance the adoption of blockchain in finance and provide a good opportunity for European banks to practice issuing and using CBDCs as part of the DLT Pilot Regime Regulation adopted by the European Union.

Oliver Finch, CEO of Bittrex Global, has expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), calling them a "solution in search of a problem." He argues that the centralized nature of CBDCs makes them fundamentally different from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which rely on distributed ledger technology.

The financial industry has been significantly impacted by the emergence of cryptocurrencies, which provide a decentralized alternative to traditional banking systems. Stablecoins, which are intentionally tied to the value of a fiat currency, have gained popularity due to their stability and pegging to a stable asset.

The Russian Prosecutor-General has suggested that the central banks of Russia and China should work together on regulating their respective central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). This comes after the State Duma approved a bill allowing the Russian Central Bank to begin testing its digital ruble with 13 domestic commercial banks next month.

A survey by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has found that around 15 retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could be in circulation worldwide by the end of the decade. Nine central banks have also indicated that they are likely to issue a CBDC for wholesale use in financial markets within the next six years.