China’s digital currency not set for launch as trials are ‘just routine’, central bank governor cools speculation

People’s Bank of China governor Yi Gang says ‘there’s no timetable for an official launch’ of the first sovereign digital currency among major economies

The central bank chief played down upcoming trials involving the likes of Starbucks, McDonald’s and Subway despite a screenshot of the user interface emerging in April

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People’s Bank of China chief Yi Gang said China had “basically completed” the top-level design, standard setting, research on functions and integration tests of the digital yuan. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 6:00pm, 26 May 2020Updated: 10:53pm, 26 May 2020

China still has no timetable for launching its much-hyped sovereign digital currency, with limited public trials that will begin soon just “routine parts of the research and development process”, China’s central bank governor said.

People’s Bank of China chief Yi Gang said China had “basically completed” the top-level design, standard setting, research on functions and integration tests of the digital yuan.

But Yi cautioned that the central bank still needed more time to verify “the reliability of theories, stability of the system, usability of its functions, convenience of the process, applicability in different sites as well as the ability to control risks”.

“[The tests] don’t mean the official launch of a digital yuan” and “there’s no timetable for an official launch”, Yi said in an interview published by the central bank publication, China Finance, on Tuesday.

Speculation of an imminent launch of China’s sovereign digital currency heated up in April after a screenshot of the user interface for the digital yuan emerged.

At the same time, Chinese media reported that trials would start in a district in the Western city of Suzhou, as well as in the city of Xiong’an in Hebei province, with a dozen local businesses, including American chains Starbucks, McDonald’s and Subway, reportedly included in the pilot programme involving small transactions.