(Yicai Global) Aug. 14 -- China plans to roll out pilot trials of its national digital currency in select areas across China with an emphasis on those cities linked to the 2022 Winter Olympics, the Ministry of Commerce said today.

The Digital Currency Electronic Payment system will be tested first in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou and Xiong’an in northern Hebei province. It will then be extended to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it added.

China's central bank has said it will actively and steadily promote the research and development of its digital currency this year. In April, it started internal testing of DC/EP at the Agricultural Bank of China.

Editor: Kim Taylor