HKMA Forms "Project Ensemble Architecture Community" to Shape Tokenization Standards

In order to make a substantial contribution to the development of the tokenization market in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has established the "Project Ensemble Architecture Community." Through the development of industry standards and the promotion of interoperability across tokenized assets and wholesale central bank digital currencies (wCBDCs), this group intends to accomplish its goals. With the creation of a framework for the smooth interbank settlement of tokenized deposits, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) aims to allow transactions using tokenized assets that are both efficient and safe.

In the Project Ensemble Architecture Community, the following are the objectives:

Establishing industry standards: The community will work towards the establishment of a set of industry standards in order to promote interoperability across wholesale CBDCs, tokenized money, and tokenized assets.

Seamless interbank settlement: The community will concentrate on establishing a system to facilitate seamless interbank settlement of tokenized deposits via wCBDC for tokenized asset transactions. This will be the primary emphasis of the community.

Research and testing: The community will provide assistance in the design and implementation of the Project Ensemble Sandbox, which will make it easier to do more research and testing of tokenization use cases.

Communities are made up of the following:

Diverse representations include: There is a wide range of industry representatives that are members of the Project Ensemble Architecture Community. These representatives include regulators, international organisations, academic institutions, local and global banks, significant actors in the digital asset business, and technological firms.

The initial members of the community include the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the Securities and Futures Commission, the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre, the CBDC Expert Group, and seven members from the private sector. These members include the Bank of China (Hong Kong), Hang Seng Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered Hong Kong, HashKey Group, Ant Digital Technologies, and Microsoft Hong Kong.

Evaluation of the community's size and composition The Hong Kong Metropolitan Authority (HKMA) will work closely with the industry to conduct an evaluation of the community's size and makeup, as judged suitable.