Starbucks, Subway and McDonald’s to Participate in Trials of China’s Central Bank Digital Currency in Xiong’an

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Starbucks features on the list of companies that will participate in trials of China’s proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the northern Chinese city of the Xiong’an New Area.

On 22 April the Xiong’an New District’s Development and Reform Commission convened its “Promotional Event for Trials of the Statutory Digital Renminbi in Xiong’an New District” (雄安新区法定数字人民币试点推介会).

The event saw the participation of digital currency R&D groups as well as commercial organisations that will participate in the trials.

Attendees included the Xiong’an branch of ICBC, senior executives from Chinese tech giants Ant Financial and Tencent, as well as 19 participants in Xiong’an’s CBDC trials:

  1. Ching Shipping (中海 SPV),
  2. Jinfeng Catering (金丰餐饮),
  3. Jiankun Catering (健坤餐饮),
  4. Kaili Hotel (凯骊酒店),
  5. Oscar Cinema (奥斯卡影城),
  6. McDonald ’s,
  7. Starbucks,
  8. Subway,
  9. Jinbai He (金百禾),
  10. Cainiao (菜鸟驿站),
  11. UnionPay Unmanned Supermarket,
  12. JD Unmanned Supermarket,
  13. Welike (维莱可烘焙),
  14. uSmile (昆仑好客便利店),
  15. Qingfeng Bun Shop (庆丰包子铺),
  16. Zhongti Bili (中体倍力),
  17. CITIC Bookstore (中信书店),
  18. Taoli Pavilion (桃李阁),
  19. Neolix (新石器无人车).

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) recently revealed that internal trials of the CBDC were currently being conducted across four locations, including Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’an and Chengdu.

In August of 2019 a PBOC official said that launch of a statutory digital currency was all but “imminent” following five years of researching starting in 2014.

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