The head of the central bank of China has shared more information regarding the results and methods of the completed pilot project for digital yuan.
The governor of China’s People’s Bank Yi Gang highlighted, that trial payments in digital yuan so far exceed four million transactions for an amount of more than 2 billion yuan (around $299 million).
The governor noted that all the tests were successful, although four large cities took part in the project.
In the words of Yi, the growing need for digital and contactless payments in the context of the coronavirus pandemic has put forward serious tasks in front of the central bank, that is trying to combine the safety of the user with convenience.
The official noted that fintech companies have a few key advantages, compared to commercial banks, in the formation of a large client base and management of risks.
China’s central bank launched its first digital yuan pilot in early April 2020. Since then, tests were conducted across four major cities: Xingang, Suzhou, Chengdu, and Shenzhen. The current program is expanded to more large cities, including Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Macao.
Meanwhile, large tech companies have started preparing for launching the digital yuan. Just a few days ago, Huawei announced that their new Mate 40 smartphone has an incorporated e-wallet, which will enable users to use the virtual currency, even in offline mode.
