China to Test Digital Yuan in Four Cities

Social media are buzzing about a purported test version of a wallet app for China‘s upcoming digital yuan, with screenshots passed around.

Ling Zhang, executive director of M&A, Global Fiat, at cryptocurrency exchange Binance first presented the images on April 14, later retweeted by the exchange’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao.

Screenshot ostensibly presenting a new testing wallet app for the digital yuan. Source: @lingzh1220

Four cities chosen for the trial

Ling Zhang states that the app can be downloaded in four cities chosen for the initial trial — Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou and Xiongan. She stresses on the inclusion of Xiongan, a new metropolis located on the outskirts of Beijing, which has been the place of a so-called “smart city brain project.”

The Xiongan New Area will have enhanced intelligent infrastructure which includes satellite information services, sensor recognition, a 5G network, supercomputing and big data facilities. The city has already lured the country’s major tech players Tencent, Alibaba, JD.com and Baidu, with President Xi Jinping visiting it more than once.

Speaking about the screenshots, CZ noted China’s apparent “execution speed” in launching its trial for the central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Ahead of the game

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, China has accelerated the development of its digital yuan, as noted by the Global Times report.

On March 24, Bank of China was reported to get one step closer to its central bank digital currency, having completed the development of the currency’s basic features and having already started drafting laws which will assist its implementation. A number of tech companies such as Tencent and Huawei, have also took part in the CBDC development.