Chinese Bank trials the test interface for PBoC’s Digital Currency

One of China’s largest state-owned banks, the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) is testing a new interface for the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). Screenshots of an internal mobile program developed by the bank depict that the regulator has already developed a front-end interface of how users could interact with China’s CBDC – also known as DE/CP.

NEW: The Agricultural Bank of China has rolled out an internal test interface for the nation’s central bank digital currency, allowing whitelisted users to register and trialing certain functions.@WolfieZhao reportshttps://t.co/VcJrxM21ME

— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) April 14, 2020

This is an indication of the acceleration of the progress and deployment work of rolling out the DE/CP. According to CoinDesk, the People’s Bank of China had been developing the program with the collaboration of the country’s major state-owned banks as well as payments giants, such as Ant Financial and Tencent.

The testing application is available for download on iOS and Android operating systems through a website on ABC’s domain. It offers a look into the features that will be offered through a DE/CP wallet, including paying via a QR code, exchanging payments and initiating transactions by coming in contact with another user’s phone. The application also provides users with an option to register themselves on the platform. However, it seems the registration option is in trial mode yet, as it only allows whitelisted users to complete the registration process.

The test is currently being carried out in four Chinese cities including Xiong’An, Suzhou, Chengdu, and Shenzhen.