The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank of the country, has disclosed its virtual currency could be used during the Winter Olympics event next year.
The news was announced on Sunday by Chinese state-owned broadcast network CCTV, citing a "person in charge" of the PBOC Digital Currency Research Institute. The 2022 Olympics is set to be held in Beijing.
Mention of the games indicates the digital currency launch date, likely by middle of this year. The central bank has yet to have an official timetable for the electronic yuan's unveiling.
The announcement by China that it will launch its digital currency is expected to be a major catalyst that pushes legacy financial infrastructure into the age of bitcoin and decentralized currency.
Throughout last year, the Chinese central bank has regularly suggested the possibility of a virtual money as it has stepped up its digital token creation that would require a two-tiered economic system under which both the PBOC and commercial banks will operate.
The central bank has reportedly finalized the creation of all the core functions for the currency on March 24, and was thought to have moved on to draft laws for its implementation.
Today, China is gaining momentum to roll out a trial version of a digital yuan wallet program. As a matter of fact, M&A executive director Global Fiat, Ling Zhang verified this when she posted the application's screenshots on April 14, which Binance chief executive CZ, retweeted.
The rumors about the DECP making the rounds on social media is part of the test of the bank's research and development process and it does not mean the electronic currency has been officially unveiled, an unnamed official from the China Digital Currency Institute disclosed in a statement.
The official added that the pilot program in China's four cities are internal closed-circuit trials that won't interfere with commercial operations of the companies involved, China's finance markets or its circulation of fiat currency outside of the trial perimeters.
Last week, China's Agricultural Bank and The Bank of China appeared to have launched mobile trial applications that back the virtual money of the central bank.
According to sources, the new digital yuan research and development is progressing steadily. Reports last week also bared that Suzhou municipal government workers will get 50 percent of their May transportation subsidies in electronic currency. Another China Daily article revealed that the digital yuan would be based on blockchain and a conventional centralized money system structure.
