Ant Runs New Digital Yuan Test at Shanghai Bubble Tea Shop
Duan Siyu
DATE:  Jan 08 2021
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Ant Runs New Digital Yuan Test at Shanghai Bubble Tea Shop Ant Runs New Digital Yuan Test at Shanghai Bubble Tea Shop

(Yicai Global) Jan. 8 -- A second digital yuan test project is underway in Shanghai, Yicai Global has learned, following a tipoff from a member of the public. Ant Group, the parent company of third-party payment platform Alipay, is running the test in a bubble tea shop in the city’s financial center of Lujiazui.

Yicai Global visited the Sweet7 bubble tea store in L+Mall and found that it displayed a digital currency payment sign with a 2 percent discount. But store staff said only Alipay employees can use it.

Ant has been actively involved in building the Digital Currency Electronic Payment system, as it is officially known, the Hangzhou-based company told Yicai Global. But it added that the system is “still in the early stages, and there is no further information to disclose.”

The city’s first DC/EP test was at Shanghai Tongren Hospital on Jan. 5, with staff using a hardware wallet developed by Postal Savings Bank of China. Other Chinese cities including Shenzhen, Suzhou and Beijing had also carried out pilots.

The DC/EP is digital legal tender issued by the People’s Bank of China. Its development and application will help to meet demand for a legal currency in the digital economy and improve the convenience, security and anti-counterfeit measures for retail payments, PBOC Governor Yi Gang said in an interview with the Financial News last May. 

Editors: Dou Shicong, Tom Litting

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Keywords:   Ant Group,Shanghai,Digital Currency