The People’s Bank of China reportedly revealed that the accelerating interest towards its CBDC initiatives may be fueled by Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent surge. 

Specifically, the digital yuan is the CBDC project being developed by China, with its foundational principles being entirely antithetical against the ones in the crypto sphere, much like every CBDC. 

Core crypto concepts of decentralization and autonomy are reportedly divided, prioritizing centralization and oversight, in an attempt from authoritative agencies to establish control towards the money flow, with additional simplification. 

The digital yuan is reportedly also expected to take the center position for the plan of building China’s smart city, which would turn the monetary system completely cashless. 

However, the PBoC reportedly believed the high level of interest displayed for the digital yuan is due to the recent climb from Bitcoin to achieve record-breaking high, despite crypto is still not allowed regulatorily across China. 

PBoC research bureau director Wang Xin reportedly disclosed that interest in the digital yuan was partly contributed by the plans from different nations to join the footsteps, and also by Bitcoin’s price surge.

“On one hand, this is related to more and more central banks in the world participating in the development of domestic digital currencies. On the other hand, this (interest) may also be related to the large increase in the price of bitcoin.” Xin further remarked. 

China has previously conducted several trial phases for the digital yuan throughout the last years, with the scope of its experimentation was widened to cover biometric hardware wallets, on-street ATMs, national lottery draws, and more.