South Africa tested two kinds of money for one tokenized market
Project Khokha 2 examined central-bank digital money and commercial-bank settlement tokens in a market for tokenized debt securities.
From the archive · 6 Apr 2022
A retrospective written for Chain Perspective. It describes the source at that date and does not imply current availability or status.
Reported development: · AI-assisted, source-linked brief
In brief
- The experiment used tokenized SARB debentures.
- Its settlement options represented central-bank and commercial-bank money.
The development
The South African Reserve Bank released Project Khokha 2 findings in April 2022. The proof of concept explored issuing, clearing and settling tokenized SARB debentures, a form of debt security. It examined two payment instruments: wholesale central bank digital currency and a wholesale settlement token issued by commercial banks. Separate distributed-ledger networks supported the experiment’s market and central-bank-money functions.
Why it matters
The asset being purchased is only half the settlement question. The money used to pay for it carries its own institutional arrangement, even when both instruments are tokens. Khokha 2 made that distinction visible within one experiment. The SARB stressed that the research did not imply a policy shift or support for a particular technology. The result is useful evidence about design choices, rather than an announcement of a new retail currency.
Sources and verification
Based on an official announcement
Based on the dated primary source. This retrospective does not establish current availability or subsequent outcomes.
- Launch of the Project Khokha 2 report ↗South African Reserve Bank · Primary document · 6 Apr 2022
Prepared with AI assistance from the linked sources. This is not a claim of independent field reporting or human review. How we publish · Report a correction
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