#cbdc

Mairead McGuinness, the European Commissioner for Financial Services, believes there's no need to rush the launch of a digital euro before the next EU elections in June 2024. She advises the next EU Commission to take a careful and measured approach to the CBDC rollout. Furthermore, McGuinness mentioned that the European Central Bank will finalize its stance on the project this coming October.

Brazil's Central Bank has officially christened its digital currency as 'Drex', moving away from its previous moniker, the digital real. The visual identity of Drex has also been released, featuring two arrows, with one integrated into the uppercase 'D', illustrating the transition of Brazil's conventional fiat currency to its digitalized form. Does the green hue symbolize perpetual growth?

Blockchain technology has been used to pilot Brazil's digital real. Execution took place on the Stellar infrastructure of the local Mercado Bitcoin exchange. The experiment included a KYC procedure, a fraud protection check using decentralized identity identification, and direct fund transfers. All worked well, no violations of the country's laws were detected (thankfully, the tests had not yet been banned), though Mercado's head teased that the Central Bank's real motive was to see how things would unfold if it lost its direct control over money.

Japan's Soramitsu is at the forefront of crafting a system that enables cross-border transactions specifically tailored to the Asian market. This initiative involves leveraging the Cambodian CBDC to cater to markets in India, China, and Japan. Additionally, Soramitsu aspires to establish a Japanese exchange for stablecoins, simplifying currency conversion across various countries.