Alibaba founder Jack Ma (third from right) attends the MYbank opening ceremony in Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province.
Ju Huanzong | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
The online bank, backed by Alibaba’s fintech giant Ant Group, has joined China’s digital yuan pilot program, it said on Monday, while Beijing is expanding tests to eventually launch the electronic currency for mass use.
MYBank, supported by ants, said it is one of the parties participating in the research and development of China’s electronic currency. He plans to “advance the trial in accordance with the general agreement of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC),” said a bank spokesman.
The digital currency pilot for China’s central bank has so far been mainly done by state-owned banks, rather than private banks.
WeBank, supported by Tencent Holdings, is also participating in the yuan’s digital pilot, the state-backed China Securities News said in a February 20 report in which it also mentioned MYBank’s involvement. WeBank declined to comment.
The services of MYbank and WeBank will soon be introduced in the PBOC digital yuan app, according to China Securities News and a screenshot of the app seen by Reuters. The e-wallets of the two private creditors will be similar to the functions offered by the six state creditors at the trial, the newspaper added.
China is at the forefront of the global race for the launch of central bank digital currencies and has so far conducted domestic tests in several major cities, including Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou.
More than 2 billion yuan ($ 309.30 million) has been spent using China’s new digital currency so far in 4 million separate transactions, PBOC Governor Yi Gang told reporters in November.