PBOC: No specific schedule for full implementation of digital currency

China has no specific schedule for the full implementation of its digital currency across the country, a high-ranking central bank official said on Sunday.

The second-largest economy has moved quickly in Digital Currency Electronic Payment, piloting the new money in several major cities since last year.

The country will expand the scale of internal testing for its digital currency, Li Bo, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), said in a session at the Boao Forum for Asia 2021.

Last October, the PBOC included the digital yuan in the latest version of the proposed banking law, providing more legal ground for regulating its electronic currency in the testing stage.

The proposed law recognizes the national currency, the renminbi, in physical and digital form, with particular clarity on the digital yuan to be the only official yuan-pegged token in China to "prevent the risk of virtual currency."

The digital currency will also be tested in some scenarios during the 2022 Winter Olympics Games in Beijing and expanded to other regions when appropriate, according to an earlier report from China's Ministry of Commerce.

(CGTN)