• Hong Kong moved Project Ensemble from sandbox testing into live operations involving real-value tokenized deposit transactions.
• The pilot runs through 2026 and focuses on money-market fund settlement, liquidity tasks, and future 24/7 tokenized central bank money.
• Regional regulators, including Singapore’s MAS, advance parallel tokenization trials as institutions examine cross-network interoperability.

Hong Kong advanced its digital finance agenda as the Hong Kong Monetary Authority began a pilot phase for Project Ensemble, introducing real-value transactions that use tokenized deposits and digital assets. The move brought the initiative into an operational setting that involves value-bearing settlement and pushed the city’s broader plan for a regulated tokenization framework. The pilot followed earlier tests in a controlled sandbox and moved the effort into daily market activity with a focus on practical settlement functions.

Pilot Structure and Scope

The HKMA initiated the sandbox in August 2024 and allowed banks and industry partners to review end-to-end settlement flows with experimental tokenized deposits. Now the pilot operates as a live environment that runs through 2026 and includes transactions linked to tokenized money-market funds along with real-time liquidity and treasury tasks. 

Participants engage in processes that test how tokenized deposits move across systems during trading periods, and they review how the structure supports predictable settlement timing. The HKMA plans an initial phase that relies on the HKD Real Time Gross Settlement system, and banks conduct interbank transfers under that arrangement. 

Over time the authority plans an upgrade that introduces settlement in tokenized central bank money and creates continuous availability for participating institutions. This development creates a route for transactions that move across networks without settlement interruptions and provides a foundation for wider market tests that examine operational resilience.

Regional Activity and Industry Reactions

Other financial centers in Asia also explore similar systems, and regulators in Singapore prepare trials that involve tokenized MAS bills settled with a central bank digital currency. Details for that trial are expected next year, and institutions in the region examine how various networks handle transfers during these pilots. 

DBS and Kinexys by J.P. Morgan also work on an interoperability framework designed to support cross-network tokenized deposit transfers, and they plan further development based on early testing. HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue stated that the pilot marks a point where earlier testing shifts into activity that produces measurable results for market participants. He noted that the transition brings concepts from the sandbox into transactions that involve real economic value. 

Moreover, industry regulators observed that broader adoption requires systems that interact across networks, and SFC chief executive Julia Leung stated that the initiative forms a step toward continuous interbank settlement using tokenized deposits. These comments reflect ongoing assessments within institutions during the early pilot period today.