China to steadily advance digital yuan pilots

China’s central bank on Friday released a white paper on the progress of the country’s digital fiat currency, the e-CNY, saying that it will steadily push forward pilot schemes of its digital yuan. The e-CNY is the digital version of the fiat currency issued by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). It is a value-based, quasi-account-based and account-based hybrid payment instrument with legal tender status and loosely coupled account linkage, the white paper clarified, adding that the e-CNY is “mainly a substitute” for cash in circulation and will coexist with physical yuan. PURPOSE OF DEVELOPMENT As the digital economy develops,…