pilot

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently launched a regulatory pilot program for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP). The first batch of participating institutions includes several regional fintech and digital asset companies, among which KuCoin is the only selected global exchange.The pilot focuses on compliance with anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorism financing (CFT), and counter-proliferation financing (CPF), aiming to strengthen risk management and regulatory capabilities in the digital asset industry, and align with international standards such as those set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).According to the arrangements, participating institutions are required to conduct structured regulatory communications, submit regulatory data regularly, and advance compliance practices in key areas such as corporate governance, transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, and cross-border transaction "Travel Rule."KuCoin CEO BC Wong stated that constructive regulatory dialogue is an important foundation for the long-term sustainable development of the digital asset industry, and the company will continue to strengthen communication and cooperation with global regulatory agencies to promote transparency and enhance risk management capabilities.The market generally believes that this selection reflects KuCoin's ongoing progress in advancing compliance strategies globally, while also indicating that Nigeria is moving towards a more systematic and forward-looking phase in digital asset regulation.

The Bank of Korea announced the recruitment of 10 new employees, some of whom are required to have at least five years of experience in the cryptocurrency industry, starting as digital asset market analysts as early as July this year, responsible for researching the impact of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokenized assets on financial stability.The recruitment news coincides with the central bank's restart of the CBDC project, the Han River project, which was halted last year due to feedback from pilot users regarding inconvenience. The new round of plan adjustments is repositioned towards government and enterprise application scenarios: the authorities aim to distribute 25% of government subsidies in digital won by 2030 and plan to launch pilot payments in the first half of 2026. The head of the digital currency planning team at the Bank of Korea stated that stablecoins and CBDCs are not in competition but rather complement each other. This deployment aligns with upcoming legislation, as South Korea will lift the long-standing ban on the domestic issuance of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.

According to CoinDesk, Ripple is piloting its RLUSD stablecoin in the Monetary Authority of Singapore's BLOOM sandbox.The pilot is conducted in collaboration with supply chain company Unloq and will test automated cross-border trade payments triggered by goods verification on the XRP Ledger.

Ripple announced its participation in the BLOOM program under the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), where it will test a cross-border trade financing automatic settlement solution powered by the stablecoin RLUSD within the regulatory sandbox.Ripple is collaborating with supply chain fintech company Unloq to build a condition-triggered payment system based on the XRP Ledger—when preset conditions such as goods verification are met, the system will automatically release RLUSD payments, replacing the cumbersome processes in traditional trade financing that rely on manual verification, letters of credit, and correspondent banking relationships, significantly compressing the settlement period from several days or even weeks.

According to market news, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has provided detailed guidance on a pilot program for using crypto assets as collateral. The regulatory agency has notified futures commission merchants (FCMs) that participation in the pilot requires submitting a notice to the market participants division, stating the start date for accepting crypto assets as margin. Key points include:Capital Requirements: Only Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins can be accepted as collateral, with BTC/ETH calculated at a 20% capital adequacy ratio and stablecoins at 2%. Futures brokers participating in the pilot can only accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, or stablecoins in the first three months;Compliance and Reporting Obligations: Futures brokers participating in the pilot must promptly report significant cybersecurity or system issues and submit weekly reports on the total amount of crypto assets in customer accounts;Expansion After Three Months: Other crypto assets may be used as collateral after three months, while some reporting requirements will be terminated;Limited Use: Only the remaining rights of dedicated payment stablecoins deposited into customer segregated accounts are allowed; crypto assets cannot be used for uncleared swap collateral, but eligible tokenized assets may be substituted.Derivatives Clearing Organization Requirements: Clearing organizations that meet CFTC credit, market, and liquidity risk requirements may accept crypto assets and stablecoins as initial margin for cleared transactions.

According to Cointelegraph, the European Central Bank (ECB) has announced the opening of expert applications for two new working groups under its Rules Development Group (RDG), focusing on advancing the implementation of the digital euro at the ATM, payment terminal, and acceptance infrastructure levels.The responsibilities of the two working groups are as follows: first, to develop implementation specifications for ATM and terminal providers, covering communication technology, offline transaction capabilities, and the reuse of existing payment standards; second, to establish testing, certification, and approval process plans for payment solutions and infrastructure used by payment service providers (PSP) in the digital euro ecosystem. Both working groups report to the RDG, which includes members representing merchants, payment service providers, and consumers.The ECB has previously disclosed plans to launch a 12-month digital euro pilot in the second half of 2027, with participation from a limited number of merchants, euro system staff, and PSPs. ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone confirmed these arrangements in February this year.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Nasdaq to launch a pilot program for trading tokenized stocks, marking a further integration of traditional finance and blockchain.According to the documents, eligible participants can choose to settle stocks in tokenized form in a pilot operated by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). At the same time, these tokenized stocks will share the same order book and matching priority as traditional stocks and must provide investors with the same shareholder rights. This pilot allows market participants to explore the feasibility of on-chain settlement without changing the trading structure, representing an important step in gradually introducing traditional securities market infrastructure to blockchain. Under the leadership of SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, the regulatory agency is accelerating the development of rules related to cryptocurrencies, including exploring mechanisms such as "innovation exemptions." However, the SEC still emphasizes that tokenized securities must comply with the existing securities legal framework. Overall, this pilot further validates the possibility of tokenized stocks being implemented on mainstream exchanges and paves the way for broader on-chain securities trading in the future.

According to CoinDesk, the Bank of Korea has officially launched the second phase of the digital won pilot project, collaborating with nine commercial banks to conduct real scenario testing of Deposit Tokens, covering government subsidy distribution and nationwide consumer payment and transfer services.This phase of the project is named "Project Hangang," adding Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank to the original seven banks, jointly testing the won-pegged deposit tokens built on the underlying architecture of wholesale central bank digital currency (Wholesale CBDC). One of the core objectives is to reduce payment costs, providing low-cost payment alternatives for large enterprises and small and micro merchants that bear high credit card fees.

According to The Block, the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance is drafting regulations to prohibit its citizens from trading on overseas cryptocurrency platforms, while promoting a pilot program for local cryptocurrency exchange licenses.This move stems from regulatory concerns about the rising risk of capital outflow due to the popularity of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. Chainalysis data shows that Vietnam's cryptocurrency trading volume exceeded $20 billion in the 12 months ending June 2025, ranking fourth in the global cryptocurrency adoption index. Cryptocurrency assets have been integrated into scenarios such as cross-border remittances, savings, and gaming. Currently, five institutions, including Techcombank, VPBank, LPBank affiliates, brokerage VIX Securities, and conglomerate Sun Group, have passed the first round of qualification review. The pilot program requires applicants to have a minimum paid-up registered capital of 10 billion Vietnamese dong (approximately $400 million), with a foreign ownership limit of 49%.

According to Bloomberg, the Ghana Securities and Exchange Commission has designated 11 companies to participate in a pilot program for virtual asset trading. This pilot program will last for 12 months and will allow the selected companies to test their products and services in a controlled environment. The Ghana Securities and Exchange Commission announced this news in a statement released on Tuesday.

According to PR Newswire, risk management and insurance broker Aon has completed its first pilot for premium payments using stablecoins, demonstrating how stablecoin technology can support more efficient cash flow. This pilot was led by Aon's digital assets division and collaborated with Coinbase and Paxos to settle premiums for their respective insurance programs.Transactions were executed across multiple blockchain networks, including USDC on Ethereum and PayPal USD (PYUSD) on Solana, showcasing flexibility between different stablecoins and blockchains. This initiative is supported by the federal stablecoin framework established by the GENIUS Act, passed in 2025.Aon stated that this work aims to assess how regulated stablecoin settlements can be integrated into insurance services to achieve faster settlement times, higher payment efficiency, and enhance risk management in the evolving landscape of digital finance.

According to The Block, the Bank of Canada announced the completion of a tokenization pilot project called "Project Samara," successfully issuing a government bond worth 100 million Canadian dollars using Hyperledger Fabric technology.The project was issued by the Export Development Canada, with participation from TD Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada, issuing a three-month Canadian dollar-denominated bond to a "closed group of investors," covering the entire process from issuance, bidding, coupon payments, redemption to secondary trading.The project evaluation found that blockchain technology could enhance operational efficiency, improve data integrity, and reduce counterparty and settlement risks, but these advantages were partially offset by increased system complexity, liquidity costs, and the inadequacies of the existing regulatory framework.The Bank of Canada stated that although the technology is feasible, widespread adoption may progress slowly due to integration challenges and limited willingness to transform core infrastructure.The project builds on the Jasper project initiated by the Bank of Canada in 2016.

According to The Block, BNP Paribas Asset Management recently announced the issuance of a tokenized share of a French local money market fund on the Ethereum blockchain through its AssetFoundryTM platform.The project adopts a "permissioned access model," ensuring that only qualified and authorized participants can hold and transfer assets to comply with relevant regulatory requirements. This is BNP Paribas's second issuance of a tokenized money market fund, aimed at testing the complete end-to-end process from issuance, transfer agency to tokenization and public blockchain connectivity.

The UK Treasury has selected HSBC Holdings Plc's blockchain platform Orion for a pilot issuance of the country's digital debt instrument DIGIT. HSBC stated that issuing bonds on the blockchain can improve the structure of the UK debt capital market by accelerating settlement speeds.The UK Treasury plans to issue these digital instruments in a regulated testing environment managed by the Financial Conduct Authority. Previously, HSBC's Orion platform has been used globally to issue over $3.5 billion in digital native bonds, including the European Investment Bank's first digital pound bond and a $1.3 billion equivalent green bond issued by the Hong Kong government.

According to Cointelegraph, the Central Bank of Malaysia has stated that its Digital Asset Innovation Center is piloting three regulatory sandbox programs to research and develop stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits.BNM's related plans primarily focus on using the Malaysian legal tender ringgit stablecoin for cross-border settlements, as well as developing tokenized real-world assets (RWA). The pilot also aims to test tokenized bank deposits, with all research findings potentially providing references for the future development of wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), which is on-chain legal tender directly issued and managed by the central bank.

The Bank of England has announced the launch of the "Synchronisation Lab" program, which will collaborate with 18 companies to test how to achieve the settlement of tokenized assets in pounds through distributed ledger technology.This six-month pilot will begin in the spring of 2026, with participants including market infrastructure providers, banks, and Web3 companies (such as Chainlink and UAC Labs). The pilot aims to validate the design choices of the central bank regarding synchronous settlement, assess the interoperability between central bank money and tokenized assets, and provide references for the modernization of the UK's Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system.

According to Nikkei News, Japan's Nomura Holdings and Daiwa Securities Group are collaborating with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, and Mizuho Financial Group to jointly promote a pilot project for securities trading based on stablecoins, aiming to achieve 24-hour real-time settlement on the blockchain.The project plans to convert assets such as stocks, government bonds, corporate bonds, investment trusts, and ETFs into digital securities. After investors place orders through brokers, transactions will be settled in real-time using yen stablecoins jointly issued by the three major banks, with asset rights simultaneously transferred to the buyer. The experiment is expected to start as early as this month after notifying financial regulatory authorities, and may attract more financial institutions in the future.The project aims to support round-the-clock trading through the tamper-proof characteristics of blockchain, extending trading hours and shortening settlement cycles to invigorate the markets for stocks, bonds, and investment trusts. However, implementation still faces compliance and practical challenges related to broker order verification and other operational processes, and the pilot will focus on identifying and addressing related obstacles.

Several European tokenization and market infrastructure companies have jointly written to EU lawmakers, urging for a prompt revision of the EU's DLT Pilot Regime. Securitize, 21X, Boerse Stuttgart Group, and others pointed out that the current asset scope, issuance size limits, and six-year license restrictions have hindered the expansion of regulated on-chain markets.Relevant institutions believe that if adjustments are delayed, global liquidity may permanently shift in favor of the U.S. due to advancements in tokenized securities and near-real-time settlement. The proposal is not about relaxing regulations, but rather about technically "quickly revising" to expand the scope of eligible assets, raise limits, and remove time restrictions to maintain the competitiveness of European capital markets.

According to market news, licensed company Axiology under the European DLT pilot regulatory framework announced the completion of a €5 million (approximately $6 million) seed round financing.This round of financing was led by Exponential Science, e2vc, and Coinvest Capital, with new investors TIBAS Ventures and Plug and Play participating. The company's total financing amount has reached €7 million. Axiology holds one of only four comprehensive "DLT trading and settlement system" licenses under the EU DLT pilot scheme. The company operates on a permissioned XRP Ledger, focusing on fixed income securities and the institutional market. Since the platform's launch in September last year, it has introduced services such as securities custody, shareholder registration management, and multilateral trading facilities. The platform currently supports settlement with regulated stablecoins and plans to participate in the European wholesale central bank digital currency initiative, while achieving settlement on the TARGET2 system through the European Central Bank's Project Pontes and Project Appia.

The Shanghai headquarters of the People's Bank of China held a press conference for the first quarter of 2026, introducing the financial operation situation of Shanghai in 2025 and answering questions from reporters. Zhou Peng, deputy director of the Monetary Credit Research Department of the Shanghai headquarters, stated that the People's Bank of China has made a series of new progress in promoting the construction of Shanghai as an international financial center and has implemented the refinancing policy for blockchain letters of credit in the shipping trade zone.The international operation center for digital renminbi has officially started operations in Shanghai, and the pilot program for the multilateral central bank digital currency bridge is also being advanced. Efforts are being made to enable the function of using bank cards and digital renminbi hard wallets to pass through the gates across the entire Shanghai metro system, fully supporting the preparation and operation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Shanghai center.