Beijing is set to create a “legal digital currency pilot area” as part of its new Beijing Pilot Free Trade Zone ambition – even though the project’s experts have stopped short of providing details as to what sort of tokens will be given the green light.
According to Beijing News, via news agency Xinhua, the project will see “a legal digital currency pilot zone” built up and an accompanying “digital financial system.”
Its mastermind, the Beijing mayoral office, also expressed the role of blockchain technology in trade financing and cross-border trade initiatives. The capital’s deputy mayor stated that city authorities intended to “build a system for the of blockchain technology for use in trade financing standardization.”
Plans for a new free trade zone were first unveiled late last month, along with parallel plans for similar projects in the southern province of Hunan and the eastern Anhui Province. All three received formal approval from the Chinese cabinet.
During this time, the central government also explained that even per Xinhua, the free trade zones would seek to “construct innovation centers with a global influence,” adding that they would serve as “pilot areas for the digital economy.”
Nonetheless, no mention at the time was made about the role of either blockchain technology or “digital currencies.”
Initial coin offerings (ICOs), crypto exchanges, and payment using cryptoassets have been banned since 2017 in China. Though, the government is already testing its digital currency in numerous testbed sites – including Beijing.
The mayor’s office did not remark timelines or budget allocations in its latest announcement.
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