China’s Ministry of Commerce announced today that it will expand the nation’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) trials to Beijing, as well as Tianjin and Hebei provinces.
According to a report on August 14 from the Wall Street Journal, there is no set time yet for the Chinese CBDC’s expanded pilot program to begin. Still, the nation’s Department of Commerce announced that the policy framework should be complete by the end of 2020.
As Cointelegraph reported earlier this week, the expanded pilot will also cover the Hong Kong Greater Bay area – consisting of nine cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, as well as Hong Kong, and Macau.
A Chinese representative of the Ministry of Commerce said today that the trials will cover many of the richest regions of China. Poorer central and western regions that meet unspecified criteria will also participate in testing. The People’s Bank of China will lead the pilot.
The CBDC of China is known domestically as a digital currency electronic payment (DCEP) and is widely considered by many to be the first operational national digital currency. In mid-April, the People’s Bank of China tested DCEP as part of a transportation subsidy scheme for government and entrepreneurial workers in Suzhou – a major city in Jiangsu Province.
Earlier this month, Chinese state-owned banks also tested a large-scale digital wallet designed for DCEP.
