Last week, screenshots leaked of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) tests. Plus, news emerged of a specific example of a plan to use the currency for certain transport subsidies in May. Now the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has acknowledged the screenshots via a TV channel and Beijing News but stated this is not the start of the official release of the digital renminbi. Instead, as before, it reframed digital currency pilots as “internal tests“.
It confirmed the location of the tests as Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’an New District and Chengdu per previous reports. But the interesting addition is the future Winter Olympics location. This refers to the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will take place 4-20 February in Beijing and the neighboring Hebei province.
Hence the reference is more than a hint that the currency, also referred to as the Digital Currency / Electronic Payment (DCEP), will already be in circulation by then. The bank is not likely to release the digital yuan just before such a major event. This implies a possible release by mid-2021 at the latest. But the news also refers to “the digital currency that our central bank is about to launch“. A report with identical wording was widely circulated in the Chinese press.
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