While announcing a roadmap that seeks to strengthen the region’s fintech sector, the HKMA revealed it has been collaborating with local and global bodies in its CBDC research.
The Beijing Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau plans to give away 200 red envelopes to local residents, with each containing 200 digital yuan (around $31).
The move was made possible by the involvement of MYbank, one of the leading internet-only banks in China, which is also majority owned by Ant Group.
JD.com confirmed recently that aside from the employees, it has also been paying off some of its business partners with the digital currency.
PwC published its inaugural Global CBDC Index recently, measuring global central banks’ maturity level in deploying their own digital currency.
A senior executive at the Bank of Japan has said China’s forthcoming digital currency does not pose a threat to the status of the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency.
Macau’s Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng informed the Legislative Assembly of plans to “study the feasibility of issuing a digital currency.”
In its latest test, the PBoC has partnered with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s Haikou branch and the Sansha city municipal government.
The move is being seen as a widening of the scope of trials of the digital currency, following successful regional pilots across the country.
The controllable anonymity will protect the central bank digital currency against criminal use and ensure the bank can track all payments the users make, according to a central bank official.
As local outlets report, China is accelerating its rollout as it readies the digital currency for use during the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.
With its new decree, the government is further seeking to stamp out cryptocurrency token sales completely, according to local reports.
