Alibaba founder Jack Ma (third from the right) is attending the opening ceremony of MYbank in Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province.
Ju Huanzong | Xinhua News Agency Getty Images
The online bank backed by fintech giant Alibaba, Ant Group, has joined China’s digital yuan pilot program, it said Monday, as Beijing processes expand attempts to finally launch e-money for mass use.
MYBank, backed by ants, said it was one of the parties involved in China’s electronic currency research and development. He intends to “advance the process in accordance with the general arrangement of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC),” a bank spokesman said.
The digital currency pilot of China’s central bank has so far been public mainly by state-owned banks, rather than private banks.
Tencent Holdings, backed by WeBank, is also involved in the yuan’s digital pilot, the state-backed China Securities News said in a Feb. 20 report, citing MYBank’s involvement. WeBank declined to comment.
MYbank and WeBank services will soon be introduced in PBOC’s digital yuan app, according to China Securities News and a screenshot of the app seen by Reuters. The electronic wallets from the two privately owned creditors will be similar to the functions offered by the six state creditors in the process, the newspaper added.
China is a leader in the global race to launch the central bank’s digital currencies and has so far conducted domestic tests in several major cities, including Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou.
More than 2 billion yuan ($ 309.30 million) has been spent so far using China’s new digital currency in 4 million separate transactions, PBOC Governor Yi Gang told reporters in November.