China to Expand Testing of a Digital Currency

HONG KONGࢀ"Chinaࢀ™s Commerce Ministry said it would expand a pilot program for its digital currency to include a number of large cities, advancing a pioneering initiative by a major central bank to launch an electronic payment system. The digital currency pilot program will cover much of Chinaࢀ™s most prosperous regions, the Commerce Ministry said Friday: the capital Beijing and nearby Tianjin and Hebei province in the north; the Yangtze River Delta to the south; and, along Chinaࢀ™s wealthy southern coast, Guangdong province and the neighboring cities of Hong Kong and Macau. Cities in the countryࢀ™s poorer central and western regions…