China to Build Global Clearing Network for Mobile Payments, Using Digital Yuan: State Media

China aims to build an international clearing and settlement network for mobile payments using the digital yuan, the People’s Daily wrote in an op-ed Monday.

The network will be a “breakthrough point” in the cross-border use of the digital currency, the op-ed said. China also wants to use the digital yuan to improve the monitoring and early warning capabilities regarding cross-border flows of the yuan, according to the article.
The internationalization of the renminbi is a necessity for China’s economic development, but also an inevitability given its economic progress, the op-ed said, citing Song Ke, deputy director of the Institute of International Monetary Studies at the Renmin University of China.
Official Chinese sources have been reluctant to talk about the central bank digital currency as a vehicle for RMB internationalization, even though state planning documents like the Five Year Plan affirm that internationalizing the national currency is one of the government’s goals.
China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) has been in trials since spring of 2020, and has so far been used in at least $5 billion worth of transactions, including some cross-border payments.

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Eliza Gkritsi

Eliza Gkritsi is CoinDesk's crypto mining reporter based in Asia.

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