China continues to actively prepare for the launch of a national cryptocurrency. Last Wednesday, an image of a test version of the sovereign digital currency of the Middle Kingdom, developed by the Agricultural Bank of China, appeared on the Internet.
The next day, the National Business Daily reported that Suzhou's Xiangcheng district plans to use digital currency to pay half of public sector workers' travel subsidies in May. In turn, The 21st Century Business Herald claims that one of the state-owned banks, which is currently testing the official digital currency, has allowed some members of the Chinese Communist Party to pay membership fees with its help.
The People's Bank of China's Digital Currency Research Institute, which is responsible for developing and testing the digital currency, confirmed it is conducting pilot programs with the country's state-owned banks. He said that pilot schemes for the use of digital currency will be tested in four cities - Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong'an and Chengdu. They will also test the national digital currency at the venues of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The institute added that these test versions of the application are not final and "does not mean that China's sovereign digital currency has officially launched." The testing will be carried out in a “closed environment” and will not have any impact on the institutions concerned.
China is expected to officially release its sovereign digital currency to the public later this year.
Source: 3dnews.ru