thecoinrise.com
China has been mass testing it’s Central Bank Digital Currency, digital yuan (e-CNY), for two years now. It has still not revealed its plans for an official launch. However, the Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has reported that it is including it as a payment option in its ongoing Singles Day, one of the biggest shopping events around the globe.
The company reported that more than 100,000 individuals had used e-CNY in the promotional event from October 31 to November 11. Notably, when a user opts for e-CNY as the payment method, they are redirected to install the wallet along with a promotional offer of 15 e-CNY (around $2.34).
The central bank, People’s Bank of China, has joined hands with major retailers and online giants, including shopping malls, e-commerce giants, and travel companies, for mass testing of the digital yuan. In the beginning, it was just limited to government subsidies for travelling but later expanded to several big cities in various sectors. There are rumours in the air that China could see an official launch in the upcoming Winter Olympics.
Is China delaying the launch on purpose?
China started working on its CBDC back in 2014 when most of the countries didn’t even know what blockchain was. The country took five years to develop and eventually finished the development phase in 2019. Despite many rumours about its official launch, CBDC’s launch date has always been extended.
The continuous delay suggests that the country is striving to bring a finished high-quality product to the world. As the other countries are nowhere near the level of development of the Chinese CBDC, the country earned an ample amount of time to test the product.
Interestingly, as TheCoinRise reported, the government witnessed the first money-laundering activity using its CBDC, which raised several questions for the nation to answer.