Descriptions
Project Aurum is a collaboration between the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute. The retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) prototype system comprises of: (1) a wholesale interbank system in which the wholesale CBDC (wCBDC) is issued to banks for onward distribution to retail users, and (2) a retail e-wallet system in which the retail CBDC (rCBDC) circulates among retail users. The system brings to life two very different types of tokens: intermediated CBDC and stablecoins backed by CBDC. Following the core principles of privacy, safety and flexibility, the wholesale and retail ledger are de-coupled by a two-tier approach to reduce the attack surface to the central bank.