Hong Kong Is Central To China’s Capital Markets Ecosystem, But Is A Digital Currency? -by John Orchard, Chief Executive Officer of OMFIF

Hong Kong had a miserable isolating lockdown which exacerbated the perception of its decline as a financial centre, after Beijing had been asserting its political authority and boosting alternatives in mainland China. Beijing has changed its mind, now seeing Hong Kong as a useful asset at a difficult economic time especially in its one-country two-systems format - for finance at least. Hong Kong is also due for a key role in the digital assets ecosystem and holds an intriguing position in the mBridge wholesale CBDC project. Bifurcation of the global system amid geopolitical tensions may increase Hong Kong’s importance while it sits on both halves, for now. Might digital finance and the logic of CBDCs eventually bring that to an end?