Four Chinese cities announced they will compete for inclusion in the next batch of digital renminbi pilot projects. They are Guangzhou, Tianjin, Yiwu and Fuzhou.
Fast facts
- Guangzhou and Tianjin have written their goals into their city’s “14th Five-Year Financial Industry Reform Plan,” and Yiwu’s plan has been reported to the State Council.
- Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong Province and ranks fourth in GDP among all Chinese cities. Tianjin is sister city with Beijing and is one of the four municipalities directly under the Central Government’s control. Yiwu is a city located in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, famous as the world’s largest wholesale market for exporting daily commodities. Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian Province, facing Taiwan across the strait.
- Currently, two batches of nine pilot cities have been rolled out, and 18 waves of e-CNY red packets with a total value of US$43.62 million have been distributed in these nine cities to promote the adoption of the central bank digital currency.
- In addition, China is conducting digital currency pilot projects for the Winter Olympics, which will start on Feb. 4 next year. The deputy governor of China’s central bank said the preparation for e-CNY Winter Olympics is in the “sprint” phase during a recent trip to Winter Olympics Park to check out the progress.
- The digital RMB has been widely used in pilot project cities. People can not only use it for purchasing goods both online and offline, but also use it to pay for electricity bills, tolls, and public transport fares.