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Digital currencies
TechPolicy

China’s digital currency: Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong commit to new digital yuan trials in 2021

  • Political leaders in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong province are pledging new pilot tests for the country’s digital currency this year
  • Many central banks are exploring their own digital currencies, but China is the closest to making its own a reality as authorities push financial development

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China is leading the world in moving towards adopting a central bank digital currency, and more cities across the country have pilot tests planned for 2021. Photo: Reuters
Masha Borakin Hong KongandCoco Fengin Beijing

Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, China’s wealthiest province, all made new commitments over the weekend to testing the digital yuan, as the country moves closer to becoming the first in the world to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Beijing Mayor Chen Jining and Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng both pledged in work reports that their cities would offer new pilot programmes this year for the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), as the digital yuan is officially known.

Neither of the cities’ People’s Congress work reports offered any details on planned trials, but they both linked digital yuan pilots to wider plans for financial development and “opening up”.

Guangdong Governor Ma Xingrui also said in a work report that the province would promote digital yuan pilots and support a digital currency innovation zone in Shenzhen, China’s tech hub sometimes dubbed the country’s Silicon Valley.

Beijing Mayor Chen Jining (shown) and Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng both pledged in work reports that their cities would offer new pilot programmes this year for the digital yuan, or Digital Currency Electronic Payment, as it is officially known. Photo: Simon Song
Beijing Mayor Chen Jining (shown) and Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng both pledged in work reports that their cities would offer new pilot programmes this year for the digital yuan, or Digital Currency Electronic Payment, as it is officially known. Photo: Simon Song

“The pace [of developing and testing the DCEP] is relatively fast,” said Wang Pengbo, a Beijing-based analyst who follows China’s finance industry. “It’s quite possible for China to become the world’s first nation with a digital sovereign currency.”

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