China will advance development of digital yuan, central bank gov says

BEIJING (Reuters) -China will continue to advance the development of its central bank digital currency and improve its design, the People’s Bank of China governor Yi Gang said on Tuesday.

China is a front-runner in the global race to launch central bank digital currencies (CBDC) and is testing a digital yuan, or eCNY, in major cities including Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai but has not set a timetable for its official rollout.

“Going forward, we will continue to prudently advance R&D of eCNY, improve its design and use,” Yi said via video at a Bank of Finland event.

China will improve eCNY’s privacy protection and anti-counterfeiting feature and increase its interoperability with existing payments tools, Yi said.