China has been spearheading the entire central bank digital currency [CBDC] game. The Covid-19 pandemic enhanced the importance of digitalization as a mere human touch had the ability to cause death. While several countries despise cryptocurrencies they still decided to go ahead with a central bank digital currency.
While the world fears that China could garner financial and technological dominance over the globe, several countries have been forced to fasten the pace in the development of their respective CBDC. Japan recently revealed that it would soon roll out Phase 1 of its CBDC pilot. Just when all the regions are prepping for the launch of this digital asset, China revealed that it had conducted its first cross-border pilot of its CBDC.
China’s Digital Yuan Moves Ahead With Full Force
As per a recent report from a local news platform, Sina Finance China has taken the digital yuan to Hong Kong to explore the cross-border aspect. The Chinese central bank, People’s Bank of China’s [PBoC] digital currency research bureau’s director, Wang Xin revealed that a couple of technical tests were done to review the cross-border phase of the Chinese digital currency.
Wang Xin reportedly made this announcement at the State Council Information Office of China hosted a press conference earlier this week. During this event, the official pointed out that the PBoC had joined hands with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority for this pilot.
Additionally, several platforms across the country have been testing the digital yuan. Recently, the country had given the public a chance to test the digital yuan. Several shoppers reportedly carried out over a thousand transactions during the Women’s day weekend.
Speaking about the emergence of CBDCs, Wang Xin told CNBC,
“On one hand, this is related to more and more central banks in the world participating in the development of domestic digital currencies. On the other hand, this (interest) may also be related to the large increase in the price of bitcoin.”