(Yicai Global) July 8 -- Shares of companies connected with China’s sovereign digital currency surged after the country’s central bank said it will continue to expand testing of the e-yuan, focusing next on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Leading the gains were Beijing-based financial information security provider Infosec Technologies [SHA: 688201], which surged 15.3 percent to close at CNY62.61 (USD9.69), and Shanghai-based digital marketing firm Qitian Technology Group [SHA: 300061], which jumped 10.5 percent to CNY9.39 (USD1.45). The wider Shanghai market dipped 0.8 percent.

The People’s Bank of China will focus on the macro-level impact of the digital yuan in the pilot, and will strive to ensure that its impact on the monetary system, monetary policy and financial stability is minimized through business, technology and policy design, Deputy Governor Fan Yifei said at a press conference held by the State Council, China’s cabinet, in Beijing today.

Fan pointed out that there are two kinds of digital currency issuer: the private and central banks. Private cryptocurrencies, represented by bitcoin, have become the tools of speculators. They potentially threaten financial and social stability and enable money laundering and illegal economic activities. China has taken measures to deal with it, he added.

Since the beginning of this year, the country has intensified its crackdown on transactions and mining of private virtual currencies, while continuing to promote its own digital yuan pilot programs.

The PBOC held talks with major domestic financial institutions last month to demand a comprehensive inventory of funds in the accounts of virtual currency exchanges and over-the-counter traders. This followed the full clean-up of bitcoin mines in the electricity resources-rich Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Sichuan province.

Editor: Peter Thomas