Analysis of the current opportunities offered by the Digital Yuan in China and pilot tests in Japan, Korea, UAE and Saudi Arabia.

DR. ORIOL CAUDEVILLA, 柏傲齊 LL.B., MBA, PhD.

FinTech Advisor, Management & Strategy Consultant and Researcher (Digital Banking and Finance, Central Bank Digital Currencies, Blockchain, Crypto and M&A). Oriol works as a Management Consultant at AirHelp, Advisor for a Hong Kong-based FinTech company, ixFintech, Strategic Advisor at a Hong Kong-based WealthTech company, ETFCool, Strategic Advisor at ScallopX and FinTech Mentor at F10 Incubator & Accelerator, Singapore.

Oriol is a member of the Blockchain, Digital Banking and Greater Bay Area Committees at the Fintech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK), as well as the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA). He is a Fellow at the Digital Euro Association (D€A) and at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), and a Member of the Advisory Council at the Blockchain Council.

Furthermore, he publishes articles in several media, including China Daily (both the Global and Hong Kong Edition) and Macau Business. He has given talks and seminars on the Chinese Financial System, Central Bank Digital Currencies and the Digital Yuan in several universities in Hong Kong and Macau, as well as in international conferences, like the recent Israel/UAE Fintech Week and the Future of Fintech Saudi Arabia event.

A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a new form of Central Bank money accessible to the general public, accepted as a means of payment, legal tender, safe store of value by all citizens, businesses and government agencies. Theoretically, a CBDC should enable the cheap, secure and real-time transfer of value, be accessible without a bank account and be built on an open infrastructure to foster competition and innovation. Last April, after several years of work, the Chinese Government announced the starting of the tests of DCEP (“Digital Currency Electronic Payment”) in four major cities (Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu and Xiong’an). The tests are currently being extended to more areas, such as Hong Kong, where last December 4, Hong Kong’s Monetary Authority (HKMA) Chief Executive Eddie Yue announced that the HKMA and the Digital Currency Institute of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) are discussing the technical pilot testing of using the Digital Yuan for making cross-border payments, However, even though China is leading the CBDC race in Asia, there are many other pilot projects about to start in 2021, such as the digital won´s tests in Korea and the digital yen´s tests in Japan, as well as the recently finished UAE´s and Saudi Arabia´s Project Aber.