China’s ABC offers a test interface for PBoC’s CBDC

The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), one of the country’s state-owned banking giants is piloting a test interface for the country’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). A report unveiled this news on April 14, noting that this moves hints at the expedition of the creation and launch of China’s CBDC, which is also known as DC/EP.

According to the report, screenshots of an internal mobile application created by ABC surfaced on WeChat on April 14. The screenshots displayed that ABC had created a front-end interface of how users could potentially interact with the CBDC.

This news comes after a 2019 publication unveiled that the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) had joined hands with other four state-owned banks to develop DC/EP’s system. Per the report, the involved banks include the Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The development process also involved payment firms Ant and Tencent.

A peek into DC/EP’s app

The testing application is available in iOS and Android versions. It was previously found on a site on ABC’s domain. However, the link is currently broken and leads to a 404 error. The application reportedly offers a sneak peek into the features that will be offered by the DC/EP wallet. These include paying via a QR code, receiving and sending payments, and initiating transactions by touching another user’s phone.

Additionally, the application allegedly a registration option. However, the registration function is in test mode at the moment. This is because it only allows whitelisted users to complete the process. The registration test is only active in four Chinese cities. These are Xiong’An, Suzhou, Chengdu, and Shenzhen.

Using the blockchain for China’s digital renminbi

This news comes after Yao Qian, a director at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) vouched for using blockchain technology to back China’s DC/EP. There is currently a lot of confusion as to whether China will leverage the blockchain in its CBDC. With this uncertainty, Qian came out to elaborate that it is not a contradiction to use the blockchain to back a digital currency controlled by a central bank.

Vouching for the blockchain, Qian said,

“As a brand-new technology, of course, blockchain also has various shortcomings and deficiencies, but this is not the reason we give up easily.”

Do you think the PBoC will use the blockchain technology to back DC/EP? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.