Why El Salvador’s Bitcoin experiment may not find its place in Asia

While the US and China share cryptocurrency concerns, differing regulatory policies could remove the shine of digital assets for investors.

Southeast Asian countries are making progress in their plans to issue digital currencies with legal tender, or central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). FinanceAsia explores the implications of this shift.

Greater familiarity, institutional support, and budding public interest for cryptocurrencies suggest that 2022 could be a banner year for digital assets. Will encouraging momentum continue, or will new virtual money eventually be faced with old money problems?

HKMA and the PBOC to further support the expansion of use cases of the digital yuan in Hong Kong, targeting local consumers and travellers.

Digital assets and physical gold share both have an absence of dividend payments and the concept of finite supply. However, volatility casts one as a safe-haven play, while the other is branded as a risk-on asset, at least for now.

The regulator has teamed up with 16 market participants to explore the viability of CBDC implementation. However, questions around interoperability, monetary sovereignty and the role of the traditional banking system remain.