Inside sources have said to domestic media that the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) proposed central bank digital currency (CBDC) is still some distance away from the testing phase.
Sources close to PBOC’s digital currency research institute said to 21st Century Business Herald that trials of the CBDC are still “quite far away,” and that “it would be more accurate to say that they are internal tests.”
With regard to recent reports that Shenzhen and Suzhou would be the two cities chosen for trials of the CBDC, the source said that the likely reason for this is that both cities are home to branch offices for PBOC’s digital currency research institute.
According to recent media reports PBOC’s trial of the CBDC will involve the participation of the big four state-owned banks, including Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank (CCB) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), as well as the big three telecoms giants – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.
Related stories
Central Bank Digital Currency Expected to Drive Internationalisation of the Renminbi