China's efforts to develop a centrally issued digital currency took a jump forward on Dominicus equally the land-owned Agricultural Banking concern of China launched the first digital yuan ATMs.

Customers at select branches within the Shenzen region take reportedly begun spending and converting the digital yuan they received as part of China's "red envelope" lottery, which saw $3 million worth of the new currency gifted to 100,000 local citizens.

The ATMs reportedly allow the deposit and withdrawal of digital yuan via a smartphone app and let users to convert cash and savings to and from the key depository financial institution digital currency.

The Agricultural Bank of Cathay is 1 of the country'southward "Big Four" state-endemic banks, which collectively represent the four largest cyberbanking institutions in the world. The director of the bank's Digital Yuan Innovation Lab, Zou Hua, said the ATM rollout was office of efforts to guide citizens toward the eventual digitization of cash.

"Agronomical Bank has taken the pb in launching the ATM cash deposit and withdrawal role in the industry to guide Shenzhen residents to adapt to the digitization of greenbacks and explore service transformation," he said.

Reports in the Shenzen Daily suggest that the accelerated progress of the digital yuan pilot could indicate a large-scale rollout within the year. Still, in Dec 2020, the former governor of the People's Bank of China played downward the notion that the digital yuan would replace international fiat currencies, adding that China had enacted a more than cautious arroyo after witnessing the global pushback against Facebook's Libra, now Diem, project.

Mainland china is regarded as a pioneer in primal bank digital currencies. Its digital yuan is expected to human action every bit the cashless payment method within China'due south "smart cities" in the coming years.