The People’s Bank of China stresses that despite the release of the pilot version of digital currency, there is still no official launch date for the digital yuan
The opinion of the Chinese Bank
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) explains that they still haven’t an official launch date of the digital yuan. Given that the digitisation of the currency is a priority for the country, it can be assumed that China has encountered some problems on its way or that everything is being checked very carefully because of the expectations of the digital yuan.
In an interview published today on the website of the Central Bank of China, Bank President Yi Gang commented on the official launch date of the CBDC, saying that the digital yuan tests are still under development and research, so we will not disclose the official launch yet.
Rumours about the launch of the yuan
Despite the bank’s official position on the digital yuan’s release and the tests carried out in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan and Chengdu, many media suggest that China could speed up the adaptation of its CBDC to address potential financial risks related to the tense situation with the United States and to order effective pandemic financial assistance.
The US may still pose a threat to Chinese institutions and influence the position of the yuan in international accounts. According to Cao Yin, co-founder of Blockchain Digital Renaissance, a digital currency controlled by the Central Bank would allow the government to properly track money and make sure it reaches the neediest companies in the country.
To control the economic damage caused by the virus, China intends to raise its deficit-to-GDP ratio to over 3.6% and propose tax cuts of over $350 billion for corporations this year.
When’s the premiere?
In 2019, work on the digital yuan was accelerated due to numerous announcements about Libra’s Facebook entry. At that time, official sources said that the CBDC was already ready for launch.
The lack of an official release date for the yuan, together with information on its readiness for the official launch and the efficient pilot version indicates that the project is probably already fully developed and there are other non-technical problems ahead.
Advances in distributed database technology and sharp decreases in the use of cash by citizens are the main reasons of central banks’ research and development on CBDC.
We know that the authorities are committed to introducing the crypto as soon as possible and may be able to do so already this year. Digitalization of the economy has the highest priority in this country, so without official prime ministers, the yuan can be released overnight.
