Bank of China Hong Kong kicks off pilot for e-HKD use for prepaid services

BOCHK hopes to create a new business model for retail SMEs.

Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BOCHK) has begun a pilot for the use of a hypothetical e-HKD to examine the use of e-HKD for prepaid services.

BOCHK onboarded 10 merchants for the pilot, and enabled participants to purchase prepaid service contracts from the merchants through BoC Pay. The funds were converted into hypothetical e-HKD within their personal accounts, which are subsequently managed and operated by smart contracts.

Participants include a group of BOCHK employees. The SMEs participating in the pilot also invited eligible customers to participate.

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Chen Guang, BOCHK deputy general manager, digital currency task force, said that BOCHK is committed to exploring potential commercial use cases of e-HKD.

“We aim to capitalise on HKMA’s e-HKD Pilot Programme to create a new business model for retail SMEs and build a healthy ecosystem for prepaid consumption,” Guang said.