Several
Chinese cities are planning to support trials of China's sovereign digital
currency - Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) - in their tone-setting
government work plans for 2021, which observers said would mark a positive
start for a year that could pave the way for the currency's official launch.
Beijing Mayor Chen Jining said on Sunday that the
capital will accelerate the building of innovative demonstration zones for
fintech and professional services in 2021, and it will promote the pilot application
of the digital currency.
He made the comment when delivering a local
government report at the opening ceremony of the fourth session of the 15th
Beijing Municipal People's Congress.
Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng said on Sunday, when
delivering a government work report, that the city will continue financial
opening-up and the promotion of the digital currency.
Ma Xingrui, governor of South China's Guangdong
Province, vowed on Sunday during the opening ceremony of the local two sessions
that authorities will support the development of the city of Shenzhen into an
innovative pilot zone for the country's digital currency.
Shenzhen, dubbed as China's Silicon Valley, held
the third round of digital currency pilot tests starting on January 20, issuing
20 million digital yuan ($3.09 million) to residents in Longhua District.
Industry observers said that these plans by
China's first-tier cities send a clear signal that DCEP will be subject to
large-scale testing this year against the backdrop of a global race, which will
lay a solid foundation for its launch in the near future.
"The pilot testing is only the first step of
a 'long march.' Once launched, the digital yuan will reshape China's financial
industry and unleash a promising digital finance service sector worth billions
of yuan," a Shenzhen-based veteran industry insider told the Global Times
on Sunday.
In 2020, the trial operation of DCEP expanded from
small-scale closed-loop testing to large-scale open testing.
The tests were carried out in a handful of cities
including Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province, Chengdu,
capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, and Xiongan New Area, North
China's Hebei Province.
In addition to offline payments, the digital yuan
wallet also supported online payments in e-commerce platforms in trial
runs.
On a global scale, four-fifths of the central
banks in major economies have begun research and development on central
bank-backed digital currencies, according to media reports.
Global Times