China will continue to move forward with the development of its central bank digital currency and make improvements to its design and usage, reports Reuters. 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,” People’s bank of China governor Yi Gang said on Tuesday. “China will improve eCNY’s privacy protection and anti-counterfeiting feature and increase its interoperability with existing payments tools.”
Yi said the PBOC attaches great importance to the issue of personal information protection, as CBDC issuers have to balance the need between safeguarding privacy and preventing crimes.