China, April 19, 2021 /AlexaBlockchain/ – China is planning to pilot its digital Yuan with foreign visitors at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
- China is trying to make it possible for foreign athletes and visitors to use its digital currency during the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, a top central bank official said on Sunday.
- It could be the first test for China’s digital currency with international users.
- China has been working on a digital yuan since 2014 and has recently launched a number of pilot projects around China.
- It also said that its digital Yuan will focus on domestic usage.
“For the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, we were trying to make e-CNY available not only to domestic users, but also to international athletes and like visitors,” Li Bo, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said during a panel moderated by CNBC at the Boao Forum for Asia on the island of Hainan.
Li Bo said the aim of the digital yuan or e-CNY (electronic Chinese yuan) is not to replace the U.S. dollar’s dominance on the international stage.
Chinese central bank will include “more scenarios and more cities” to test the digital yuan, Li added.
China is moving forward very aggressively in CBDC space, which world leaders, economists and financial analysts believe that China’s digital yuan could be a way to internationalize the renminbi and also challenge the U.S. dollar. But, Li reiterated that the PBoC is focused on the domestic use of the digital Yuan.
“Our focus again is that we want to establish a very solid domestic e-CNY first, and build up a healthy ecosystem. At the same time, working with our international partners. Hopefully, in the long term, we have a cross border solution as well,” Li said.
China may showcase that it is planning to test its digital Yuan during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics; however, it is highly possible that PBoC is actually planning a full-fledged launch.
