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McDonald’s, Starbucks and Subway Deny Testing China’s New Digital Currency: Report

October 15, 2020

The American food and beverage chains McDonald’s, Starbucks and Subway have not participated in the ongoing field test of China’s digital Renminbi (RMB), reports say. 

Despite previous reports stating that McDonald’s, Starbucks and Subway are three of the 19 companies that will be participating in the pilot test of China’s digital RMB in the Xiongan area, a new report by Sina News Agency indicates that the popular American staples haven’t yet participated in the said experiment. 

Aside from UnionPay Unmanned Supermarket and Villaco Cake Shop, none of the companies and merchants rumored to be participating are accepting digital RMB payments issued by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). However, according to the report, the companies mentioned currently accept payments through digital payment processors like WeChat, Alipay and QuickPass.

Conceptualized six years ago by the PBOC, the pilot program for the digital currency, called Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) was rolled out in late April. Although little is known about the design of China’s digital currency, experts say it will likely lack the privacy and anonymity that draws some to the digital asset space.

Outside of the Xiong’an area, the PBOC is also testing its digital currency in Shenzhen, Suzhou and Chengdu. As of mid-October, over 1.1 billion DCEP transactions have been piloted across China, according to FinTech.

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