HAIKOU /China/, Nov. 10. /TASS/. South China's Hainan province plans to speed up the expansion of the digital yuan implementation system in the region during the 14th five-year period (2021-2025), the local administration announced on Wednesday.
"We will accelerate the creation of experimental sites to expand the scope of the digital yuan," the Hainan government writes on its official website. The published document focuses on the formation of an international consumer tourism zone on the island. It specifies that authorities will soon open "additional service offices in the province for [digital] yuan transactions and foreign currency exchange."
According to the document, the Hainan government will actively promote the development of infrastructure for the digitalization of the economy and "create a new format of services in the retail sector."
As previously reported by local media, in October, a first car on the island was purchased with the digital yuan. The transaction took only five seconds.
In addition, the resort town of Sanya on the southern coast of Hainan gave residents about 10 million yuan (about $1.5 million at the current exchange rate) early last month to test a new form of local currency. These funds could be spent within two weeks at a number of supermarkets, hotels and duty-free stores.
The PRC began introducing a national virtual currency in late 2019. Many cities across the country, including Beijing, have joined the pilot project. After a year and a half, the Chinese Central Bank has recorded more than 1.32 million transactions using the digital yuan, both in transportation and catering, as well as in the processing of government services. The system is expected to reach a new milestone in February 2022, when the Chinese capital will host the Winter Olympics.