As reported by ChainNews, tests will soon start in China to use the digital currency of the Yuan for which agreements have been made with several companies and catering chains including McDonald’s and Starbucks.
Yesterday there was a meeting sponsored by the Department of Reform and Development of the Management Commission of the New District of Xiong’an where the research and development of the digital currency was discussed. The meeting was also open to various merchants.
In this specific case, the meeting focused on catering and retail companies and the pilot project will start from the New District of Xiong’an, which was established only in September 2019.
The companies involved include:Â
- Zhonghai SPV,Â
- Jinfeng Catering,Â
- Jiankun Catering,Â
- Kaili Hotel,Â
- Oscar Studios,Â
- McDonald’s,Â
- Starbucks,Â
- Subway,Â
- Golden Baihe,Â
- Cainiao Inn,Â
- UnionPay Unmanned Supermarket,Â
- Jingdong Unmanned Supermarket,Â
This will be the first step towards the concrete use of this Chinese digital currency. It is worth recalling that the Blockchain Xiong’an Lab was unveiled only at the end of March and the director of the Xiong’an Lab, Li Jun, has set himself 2 goals:
“One is to establish a unified blockchain infrastructure platform that is compatible with different blockchains. Secondly, on this platform, we will further explore the application of blockchain in Xiong’an New District, and integrate and upgrade it.”
Many countries are now aiming to issue their digital currency: for example, Japan is studying a system similar to China’s, and even the United States is studying a digital dollar.
Obviously, it should not be forgotten that these are digital currencies and not real cryptocurrencies because, being controlled by the state, they are by no means decentralized, yet they do promote the spread of digital payments and therefore also a potential use of Bitcoin by the masses who, in this way, could more easily understand how it works.
