The three Chinese internet behemoths are all set to participate in the country’s most advanced digital yuan test in the city of Suzhou. According to the report, Chinese ride-hailing giant DiDi, Tencent-backed food delivery app Meituan and video streaming platform Bilibili are also backing the $3 million digital yuan test in Suzhou. The report unveils that Suzhou’s lottery-winners could employ their free digital yuan on Meituan’s bike-sharing services or DiDi’s ride-hailing services.
This announcement emerges a week after the local Suzhou government decided to allocate 20 million yuan. This is approximately $3 million to the city inhabitants via a lottery. This is the most comprehensive digital currency test-driven by any Chinese province so far. Previously, the city of Shenzhen issued $1 million in digital yuan.
Furthermore, various commercial banking associates of the central bank are participating in the Suzhou city trial. Moreover, there will be restrictions on services with each of them. Lottery-winners initiating their DC/EP wallets with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China can employ the digital yuan on DiDi ride-hailing services or Meituan’s bike-sharing. Besides, Bilibili’s services, on the other hand, will be available to the digital yuan holders stimulating their wallets with the Bank of China. If users activate their DC/EP wallets with the Bank of China, they can utilize the digital yuan on Bilibili. It is best known for providing premium animation video content to subscribers.
China inches closer to Digital Yuan launch
However, China is stepping closer to launch Digital Yuan. However, there is no establishment of a fixed launch date. Nevertheless, the growing scale of the tests is showing positive signals. After experimenting in various cities in the mainland, the PBoC is discussing with Hong Kong to experiment with digital yuan in the special administrative region. Nevertheless, it is only to test the cross border characteristics of the DC/EP.
Notwithstanding, some smaller countries have issued their national digital currency. The Cayman Islands introduced a national digital currency this year. Central banks of Canada, Japan, the Philippines, and many others are exploring CBDCs.
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