Six Chinese banks offering digital wallets and Japan established a new committee for CBDC trials
At the moment it looks like China and Japan are in a pilot race to be issued digital currencies (CBDC). Specifically, the Bank of Japan announced it had established the Liaison and Coordination Committee on Central Bank Digital Currency to convene with both the private sector on the bank’s upcoming CBDC proof-of-concept (PoC).
Asia’s largest economies are pushing forward with their respective CBDC trials
Bank of Japan stated:
“The Bank, through this committee, will share details of, and provide updates on the PoC with the private sector and the government and will seek consultation on future steps to facilitate smooth implementation of the PoC.”
The announcement also notes that the bank has been preparing to launch the CBDC pilot since October 2020 and will officially begin Phase 1 of the CBDC pilot process next month.
On March 23, Chinese state media Sina reported that six major government-owned banks had begun testing a wallet service for the digital yuan. Customers can apply for a bank whitelist to participate in the trial and, if approved, will be provided with a secondary wallet that connects to the central bank’s digital yuan application.
The six banks participating are the Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank, Postal Savings Bank of China, and The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The central bank will review applications on a case-by-case basis.
Approved subscribers will be sent a text message containing instructions to download and set up a digital wallet by scanning a QR code. The secondary wallet was initially set with a daily payment limit of 1,000 yuan, but users can sign up to increase the quota in the future. A wallet can be linked to an existing bank card issued by participating institutions.
China has also been testing its CBDCs in urban centers of Beijing, Shenzhen, Suzhou, and Chengdu since October.
Read more:
- Chinese Banks Conducted Digital Yuan Trials At Two Major Department Stores In Shanghai
- The Bank Of Japan (BOJ) Will Start Experiments On A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) This Spring