China’s digital renminbi will go for gold at Beijing Games

China’s digital renminbi will go for gold at Beijing Games

While the world’s attention is focused on athletes in Tokyo, Chinese authorities are working feverishly to finish off preparations for the Winter Olympics that will take place in Beijing in six months’ time.

That doesn’t just mean building new stadiums; developers at the central bank are also getting ready for what will be the first major international test of the country’s new digital currency.

Last year, China became the first country to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC) with the start of public testing. The tens of thousands of athletes and fans descending on the Chinese capital in February will provide an opportunity to test the new currency with foreign participants.

Athletes may be given tech-enabled gloves, badges or uniforms that they can use to spend the digital renminbi, or e-CNY, as it is also called. Foreigners will be allowed to open digital wallets and pay with e-CNY, though how exactly they will load up their wallets with digital yuan remains to be seen.

“Building Beijing Winter Olympics’ payment ecosystem is an important political task,” People’s Bank of China deputy governor Fan Yifei said last month. “We must address the current development challenges so we have an orderly and steady rollout of the digital