How close is China to launching its digital currency?

Foreign consumer brands, including US chains Starbucks, McDonald’s and Subway, were named by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) as participants in the initial pilot programme, along with Ant Financial, Tencent and 19 local restaurants and retail shops.Under the trial, Communist Party members were allowed to pay their membership fees in digital yuan with one unnamed state bank, local media reported.In Suzhou, the digital yuan was used to pay half of the travel subsidies owed to public servants. Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing said in July 2020 that it had entered into a “strategic partnership” with the central bank over the digital currency plan.The Bank of China; China Construction Bank; the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China; and the Agricultural Bank of China also said in August 2020 that they were working on the digital yuan with the central bank in major cities, including Shenzhen.In October 2020, more than 47,000 consumers in the Luohu district of Shenzhen spent 8.8 mi...