The Macau SAR Government announced Thursday that development of the prototype system of the digital Macau pataca, or e-MOP, has been completed and will soon undergo sandbox testing and public testing. There is a chance it will be linked to China’s digital Renminbi (e-CNY) and the digital Hong Kong Dollar (e-HKD) in the future, it added.
According to the Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM), Chan Sau San, the e-MOP will have the same legal status and value as banknotes and coins, and merchants will not be allowed to refuse to accept it. In the short term, e-MOP will mainly focus on the retail level.
The currency will be divided into two types of wallets: “soft wallets” and “hard wallets”. Soft wallets are mainly mobile applications with functions such as funds transfer and reloading, while hard wallets will store digital currency in the form of cards. The government will set up self-service money exchangers to allow holders to accept MOP or other foreign currencies for cash reloading by exchanging money.
The concepts of “soft wallet” and “hard wallet” are similar to those of the well-known virtual currencies “hot wallet” and “cold wallet”, with the former being used for software transactions and short-term investments, and the latter for holding assets for a long period of time.
However, unlike virtual currencies, e-MOP is the legal tender of the CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) system, an electronic currency issued by the Central Bank.
Chan said the government will only fully launch e-MOP when the infrastructure is fully secure and ready, and when the operating organizations have ensured that the risks are manageable in a comprehensive test.
He also pointed out that AMCM will promote the connection of the e-MOP with the e-CNY and the e-HKD in the future, so as to realize the interoperability of the payment and settlement systems in the Greater Bay Area.
The e-CNY was launched on a trial basis in mainland China in August 2020 and has been in operation for a significant period of time, while the e-HKD is currently entering the second phase of its launch.
The Macau SAR Government has been promoting the development of a digital MOP in recent years, with the regulatory law “Legal System for the Issue of Currency” having come into effect in November 2023. This law states that a digital MOP is, like banknotes, legal tender.
However, the government’s introduction did not mention whether the e-MOP could be used in casinos in some way.
In an interview with IAG in September, Professor Jack So Yuk-Chow, chair of the Faculty of Business at Macau University of Science and Technology, said, “The key is whether the digital MOP will also have a real-name system, which will be more effective in combating money laundering and will have a positive impact on the gaming industry.”
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