The authorities of the city of Suzhou will distribute the national cryptocurrency of China among local residents. They will be able to make purchases without having access to the Internet.
The Chinese government has selected another city to test the digital yuan. On December 12, the Suzhou authorities will distribute the central bank-issued virtual currency among residents. This has been reported by the local edition of The Paper.
The distribution of digital coins will take place in the same way as the first testing in the city of Shenzhen, the publication specified. Then, the cryptocurrency was distributed among lottery participants. Each of the winners received 200 yuan (about $30), and a total of 50 thousand people received the coins.
The publication clarified that another function will be explored as part of the new testing. It will allow one to make payments offline. To do this, users will only need to bring close two devices close to each other. They will also have to possess wallets for storing the digital yuan. For example, a smartphone would be tested to make a payment to a terminal.
On November 11, the PRC announced that a city-wide pilot project is planned in Beijing to test the digital yuan, similar to the testing in Shenzhen. The government also announced that the central bank-affiliated Digital Currency Research Institute plans to create “testing zones for legally recognized digital currency.”
The exact launch date of the digital yuan is unknown. However, China is preparing to use the national cryptocurrency during the Winter Olympics that will be hosted by Beijing in 2022. Sun Guofeng, head of the monetary policy department of the People’s Bank of China, revealed this in October.
