 in April this year with the help of four banks in the country.){kind=link}
Regardless of Bitcoin, if there is a country that is betting on the blockchain to implement a cryptocurrency, it is of course China. The Asian giant began to deploy its official cryptocurrency DCEP (Digital Currency / Electronic Payment) in April this year with the help of four banks in the country. Now that the tests are progressing successfully, they are preparing to distribute it and make it operational in more cities in the country and developed areas.
Until now, the Chinese digital currency pilot program was minimally present and still without a clear timeline. This is going to change soon. According to WSJ, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has announced that it will expand the cryptocurrency trial to the country’s large cities.
They are to start with four cities (Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou, Xiong’an) and the area pertaining to the 2022 Winter Olympics. The program will then expand to the northern part of the country covering Beijing, Tianjin and the province of Hebei. Also the cities of the Yangtze River Delta and those of the Pearl River Delta. The latter includes the aforementioned Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao. They advise that cities in central and western China will also be able to participate in the testing program if they meet certain conditions.
With this announcement, China expands its digital currency, essentially, to all areas with the greatest economic impact in the country. To do this, it has the help of the four large banks in the country and also with large companies that are joining the initiative, including Didi Chuxing, the Uber-style transport company in China.
A long-term plan
In the statement of the Ministry of Commerce, they indicated that it aims to adapt “to the profound and complex changes in the national and international environment.” They are not words spoken at random. The growing tension between China and the United States reflects a possible future in which sanctions by the United States will be more severe in China.
Of all these sanctions, one that can harm is that they are excluded from the international financial system where the US dollar is the predominant exchange currency. If the digital currency DCEP is going to be China’s salvation in such a scenario, it will have to be seen, although they are preparing for it later.
China is one of the countries where mobile and digital payments predominate in general. Implementing a digital currency shouldn’t be complicated. On the other hand, they have been working on this system since 2014.