Leading economies of the Asian continent are going full steam ahead with their pilots for CBDC, with six China-based banks rolling out crypto wallets, and Japan forming a new committee. 

Specifically, Bank of Japan reportedly disclosed the successful establishment of the Liaison and Coordination Committee on Central Bank Digital Currency on March 26th, dedicated to convening with both the private sector, regarding the CBDC proof-of-concept (PoC) of the banks. 

“The Bank, through this committee, will share details of, and provide updates on the PoC with the private sector and the government and will seek consultation on future steps to facilitate smooth implementation of the PoC.”

The bank has reportedly also been in preparation to carry out a CBDC trial since October last year, and will officially initiate Phase 1 of its CBDC pilot in April. 

Six top-tier, government-owned banks in China have reportedly been starting to run trial phases for wallet features for the digital renminbi. Clients will be able to submit applications for the banks’ whitelists, to take part in the trial, and should approval be granted, will receive sub-wallets linked to the central bank’s digital RMB application.

The central bank will reportedly go through applications on a case-by-case manner. 

Approved applicants will reportedly receive text messages carrying instructions on how to download and run the crypto wallet, via scanning a QR code. 

Sub-wallets are by default left at a payment limit of 1,000 yuan everyday, but users can apply to bring up the limit in the future. 

The six banks participating are the Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank, Postal Savings Bank of China, and The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.