Bitcoin has been seeing constant gains over the past months while reaching new highs. Now it is trading at almost $60,000.
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) said that the increase in Bitcoin could be triggering interest in China’s digital yuan. China’s central bank tied the increasing interest in digital yuan to the recent rise in BTC despite the fact that crypto is effectively banned in the country.
According to the research bureau director at PBoC, Wang Xin, the market has an increasing interest in the digital yuan.
According to CNBC’s translation of Wang’s comment. He said:
“On one hand, this is related to more and more central banks in the world participating in the development of domestic digital currencies.”
Over time, several countries worldwide have been working on creating their central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Already, some central banks have begun piloting and trial their digital currencies. CBDC aims to replace and reduce cash in circulation, as well as to promote cash in circulation. It is simply the digital version of fiat currency.
The People’s Bank of China has been working on the digital yuan since 2014, and the central bank is arguably the farthest ahead in the development.
PBoC Says Bitcoin Price Surge Fuels Increasing Interest in Digital Yuan
Wang said that market interest in the country’s digital currency is “very strong and everyone is paying close attention.” The bank executive said:
“On the other hand, this (interest) may also be related to the large increase in the price of Bitcoin.”
Bitcoin has been seeing constant gains over the past months while reaching new highs. BTC has climbed more than 100% since the beginning of the year. At press time, Bitcoin is up 1.52% to $59,844.69.
The PBoC has continually carried out pilot projects of the digital yuan across several cities in China. However, the central banks have not announced an official date for the launch of the digital yuan.
During the Chinese Lunar year in February, the Chinese government issued $1.5 million in the digital yuan atrial. The trial, which took place in Beijing, signified the third major test of the CBDC. When the municipal government announced the trial, the authorities said 50,000 people would be selected to participate in the test. The participants will then receive about $30 each in the digital yuan. After then, the recipients can spend the issued funds in selected offline locations or some parts of JD.com during the holiday.
Apart from Beijing, the digital yuan tests have also been conducted in Shenzhen and Chengdu.
In a recent statement, Wang revealed that there would be more trials of the digital yuan. He noted that the pilots are “increasing, and also expanding in scope.’
“Next, we will push ahead with digital RMB pilots, and accumulate more experience,” he stated.
Other news from the crypto industry can be found here.
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