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Digital Yuan Likely to Feature at China's 'Two Sessions' Meetings of Lawmakers: Report

The central bank digital currency is expected to be raised at China's biggest meetings of legislators later this week.

People's Bank of China, Beijing
People's Bank of China, Beijing

China’s lawmakers and their advisers will soon meet in Beijing to hash out policies for the year ahead, and the digital yuan is expected to be on the agenda.

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The meetings, dubbed the "Two Sessions," are annual gatherings held by the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC). Kicking off Thursday, they will be attended by 5,000 or so politicians from around the country to help outline the government’s priorities for the year ahead.

Having been written into multiple regional governments' annual work reports, the central bank digital currency is likely to be raised at the meetings, reported Global Times, one of the Communist Party's mouthpiece newspapers, on Tuesday.

"More research on cross-border businesses involving the digital currency could be done, and Hong Kong-invested companies in the Chinese mainland could be the first to undertake such trials," Witman Hung Wai-man, a Hong Kong-based deputy to the National People's Congress, said in the report.

Chen Chunxing, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), added that one of the benefits of a digital yuan would be to track the circulation of money to help eradicate corruption.

"Many private companies expect the digital yuan to be introduced officially as early as possible, as it can make market competition more open and standardized," Chen said.

Read more: Tencent and Ant Group-Backed Banks to Join China’s Digital Yuan Trial: Report

Even so, the launch of the digital currency, dubbed DCEP (for "digital currency electric payment") is unlikely to be brought forward drastically at the Two Sessions.

Wang Peng, assistant professor of the Gaoli Academy of Renmin University of China, told the Global Times the government will prioritize security and a number of tests will be required.

So far several cities, including Beijing and Shenzhen, have held lottery trials aimed at getting DCEP into the hands of the public for early feedback.

Tanzeel Akhtar

Tanzeel Akhtar has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes Africa, Financial Times, The Street, Citywire, Investing.com, Euromoney, Yahoo! Finance, Benzinga, Kitco News, African Business Magazine, Hedge Week, Campden Family Office, Modern Investor, Spear's Wealth Management Magazine, Global Investor, ETF.com, ETF Stream, CIO UK, Funds Global Asia, Portfolio Institutional, Interactive Investor, Bitcoin Magazine, CryptoNews.com, Bitcoin.com, The Local, The Next Web, Mining Journal, Money Marketing, Marketing Week and more. Tanzeel trained as a foreign correspondent at the University of Helsinki, Finland and newspaper journalist at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She holds a BA (Honours) in English Literature from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and completed a semester abroad as an ERASMUS student at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is NCTJ Qualified - Media Law, Public Administration and passed the Shorthand 100WPM with distinction. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.

Tanzeel Akhtar