Speculation is rife as to which companies People’s Bank of China (PBOC) with the development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC).
According to a report from Sina at least 15 companies are helping PBOC with the development of its statutory digital currency, including big state-owned banks, China’s big three telecoms companies and some of its leading tech companies.
These companies reportedly include:
- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC),
- Agricultural Bank of China (ABC),
- Bank of China (BOC),
- China Construction Bank (CCB),
- China Mobile,
- China Telecom,
- China Unicom,
- Tencent,
- Huawei.
ICBC and BOC all have experience in the development of digital wallets, while ABC has worked on the creation of a credit scoring system, and CCB has extensive experience in blockchain applications.
Huawei is believed to be a participant in PBOC’s CBDC development, with domestic reports pointing out that central bank official Fan Yifei (范一飞) paid an inspection visit to Huawei’s Shenzhen headquarters, at the start of November.
PBOC’s General Clearance Centre has also entered a strategic cooperative agreement with Huawei, while PBOC’s Digital Currency Research Institute has entered a memorandum of cooperation with Huawei for fintech research.
Tencent unveiled plans in late December to launch its own digital currency research team, which many have interpreted as a sign that it is cooperating with PBOC on CBDC development.
A number of blockchain companies in the Shenzhen Blockchain 50 Index are also candidates for participation in PBOC’s digital currency efforts, including:
- Guangdong Homa Appliances (奥马电器),
- GRG Banking (广电运通),
- Shenzhen Forms Syntron (四方精创) ,
- Chenming Paper.
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