According to local media reports, testing of the digital yuan will expand to more areas of China.
The pilot project of the digital yuan is expanding under the “10+1” model. This is reported by Sina portal citing Securities Daily. The city of Tianjin, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces and other regions are expected to be connected to the system. In addition to the six state-owned banks in China, China Merchants Bank and two private banks, WeBank and MYbank, have been attracted to participate in the program.
The latest figures released by the People’s Bank of China show that as of the end of 2021, there were:
- 261 million personal wallets opened;
- 87.565 billion yuan (~$14 billion) worth of transactions were conducted;
- over 8 million e-CNY pilot schemes have been implemented.
During the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the e-CNY was offered to guests of the Olympic Village as one of the three available means of payment. During the Games, e-CNY transactions exceeded 9.6 billion yuan.
At the same time, the full-scale implementation of the digital yuan is not yet on the agenda. Developers are working to improve user interaction, as well as to resolve issues related to basic technology, data security, and e-CNY usage rules. In parallel, the PRC government and the People’s Bank of China are developing specific rules that address e-CNY issuance, anti-money laundering and counterfeiting of digital currency, privacy protection and consumer rights.
