Sure, here is the cleaned body content without the `

` tag:

“`html

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is ushering in a new era of financial innovation with its 2024 strategy, placing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenization at the forefront of its agenda.

Advancing Digital Currency Research

On January 23, the BIS Innovation Hub revealed its comprehensive plan for 2024, targeting pivotal areas such as CBDCs, cybersecurity, combating financial crime, and promoting green finance. A spotlight feature of the upcoming year is Project Aurum’s move into its second phase, which aims to enhance the privacy of retail payments within CBDC ecosystems.

Building on Past Success

The BIS’s latest initiative builds upon the prior success of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) creation of both a wholesale interbank system and a retail CBDC prototype in 2022. This groundwork sets the stage for a year of significant progression in the realm of digital finance.

Tokenization Takes Center Stage

Cecilia Skingsley, the head of the BIS Innovation Hub, has highlighted the critical role of tokenization in modernizing financial systems. The collaborative Project Promissa, involving the Swiss National Bank and the World Bank, seeks to transform traditional financial instruments like promissory notes from their archaic paper-based formats into digitized assets leveraging blockchain technology.

Ongoing Projects and New Initiatives

Alongside Project Promissa, the BIS will advance other key projects such as Project Mandala, Project Pyxtrail, and Project Cambridge, each addressing different facets of financial technology. The Innovation Hub is also set to unveil six new ventures, including Project Leap, which addresses threats from quantum computing, and Project Symbiosis, which applies AI and big data to supply chain emission disclosures.

Global CBDC Collaboration

Central banks across the Americas are working under the BIS’s guidance to define the technical priorities for CBDC architecture. The Consultative Group on Innovation and the Digital Economy (CGIDE) recently provided a valuable framework for nations to consider when researching or implementing CBDCs, focusing on interoperability, scalability, and user-centric design.

Balancing Privacy and Transparency

Project Tourbillon, another BIS Innovation Hub initiative, has made commendable strides in reconciling the need for privacy with the demand for transparency in CBDC transactions. The project’s final report presents a system that allows for secure payments without compromising personal data, demonstrating the BIS’s dedication to privacy in the development of CBDC technology.

As the BIS charts its course for 2024, the financial industry watches with anticipation to see how these strategic focuses will shape the future of digital finance and global economic collaboration.

“`