SHANGHAI – China will soon approve the third batch of localities set to launch trials of its digital yuan currency, state-backed financial outlet Securities Times reported on Wednesday.
According to the newspaper, a number of cities and regions have applied to authorities for permission to roll out testing of the digital yuan.
Applicants include Henan, Fujian and Heilongjiang provinces, and the cities of Guangzhou, Chongqing, Fuzhou and Xiamen, the paper reported.
China has run public trials of its digital yuan, also known as the ‘e-cny’, in cities including Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen.
The currency has yet to attain mass adoption, however. The country’s mobile payment services run by Ant Group and Tencent Holdings Ltd remain wildly popular.
During the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the e-cny was one of only three payment methods accepted at the venue, in addition to cash yuan and Visa credit card.
An official at People’s Bank of China said that the e-cny was used for 2 million yuan ($317,000) in daily transactions at the Olympics trial.
($1 = 6.3116 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Josh Horwitz and Samuel Shen; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
