SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s central financial institution stated on Saturday it can additional broaden a pilot scheme of its digital forex to extra areas, together with cities within the japanese Zhejiang province which is about to host the Asian Video games later this yr.

The Folks’s Financial institution of China (PBOC) stated it can promote the analysis and improvement of the digital forex, dubbed e-CNY, and broaden the scope of the pilot scheme, in keeping with an internet assertion.

Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen and 6 cities within the coastal Zhejiang province will probably be added to the present 10 main “pilot” cities to check the use e-CNY, it stated.

The six cities in Zhejiang, which included the provincial capital of Hangzhou, will host the Asian Video games in September.

The PBOC has ramped up testing of the digital forex in recent times and hoped to reap the benefits of the Beijing Winter Olympics as a chance to advertise the yuan globalisation.

Nonetheless, Beijing’s intention to make an Olympic splash with its digital forex was thwarted by a COVID 19-induced exclusion of international spectators. As a substitute, it has been taken up by a captive viewers of locals unable to make use of their typical digital cost apps.

The PBOC assertion additionally stated Beijing and Zhangjiakou, which co-hosted the Winter Video games in February, will even grow to be e-CNY’s pilot cities.