Major Food Chains to be Among Testers of China’s New Digital Currency

China's central bank digital currency could be potentially tested by food chain leaders Starbucks, McDonald's, and Subway. This is the latest development on China's research into implementing a digital yuan, which has been going on since 2014.

A local report revealed that a meeting was arranged by the development and reform bureau of Xiong’an New Area management committee, in which some crypto research institutions, and pilot merchants were the main participants. Amongst these pilot merchants  were representatives from the aforementioned global food chain leaders, as well as the popular Chinese dumpling eatery chain Qing-Feng Baozi.

A sway of other present parties were there to discuss the testing, including members of four major Xiongan banks namely the the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The report even mentions that the multinational conglomerate company Tencent, and payment provider Alipay were part of the group.

There are several important developments. Just a week ago it was reported that the Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China were testing a e-wallet app for a digital yuan.

On top of the food chain conglomerates, the Central Bank of China said that internal tests are being held in four Chinese cities – Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’an New Area and Chengdu- by state-owned banks.

There are rumour that the digital coin will be launched in mid-2021. It is expected the crypto currency to be used in the 2022 Winter Olympics.