As China is close to the end of ‘trialling’ their digital yuan, reports are coming out confirming a joint effort of its private and public sector. So what ‘secrets’ has China been keeping?
It seems now that major tech and commerce firms in the country have been instrumental in helping China’s central bank develop its digital currency. This has become evident after Ant Group and Tencent Holdings have revealed the extent of their collaboration with the People’s Bank of China (PBoC). They did so during theDigital China Summit, an annual trade fair in the city of Fuzhou in Fujian province.
Ant Group (MyBank)
As reported in the South China Morning Post, Ant Group already collaborated with the PBoC on the digital yuan back in 2017. This is years before China officially kicked of the pilots for its digital currency in 2020. It is reported that Ant’s mobile app development platform had been used to create the digital yuan app.
Ant Group said that it started officially testing China’s digital yuan in the summer of 2020, launching a digital currency trial in Shanghai late that year. Furthermore, the group stated that its own MyBank became one of the financial institutions to offer the Chinese digital currency.
Tencent (WeBank)
Tencent was already involved in tests as early as February 2018. By the end of the year, they had formed a ‘taskforce’ of digital yuan experts.
“Tencent has been taking part in the PBOC’s e-CNY project from the start; and will continue to carry out pilot trials in accordance with the guidance of the PBOC,” the firm commented.
JD.com
Smartphone giant Huawei and e-commerce platform JD.com have also been involved in the digital yuan’s development. Last year, Huawei became the first smartphone manufactured to offer a hardware wallet for China’s digital yuan. JD.com provided the Central bank with its technology and services in support for currency pilots. Reportedly at the end of 2020, the company became the first platform to accept the digital yuan.
During the Digital China Summit, the platform announced that is has been using China’s Digital Currency Electronic Payment, or DCEP, system to pay the salaries of some employees since January. JD are also using the DCEP in business-to-business payments to partner firms as well as cross-bank settlements.
Participants in the fourth Digital China Summit were introduced to a new payment option. In addition to using cash and digital payment platforms such as Alipay and WeChat Pay,they could also use the digital renminbi (RMB) if they want to buy bottled water or snacks at the meeting venue.
China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) was announced during the summit. It highlights the development of the digital economy by promoting its deep integration with the real economy and building digital industrial clusters with international competitiveness, which will spur high-quality growth.
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Source: Igaming
