Round-Up of CBDC News

Countries announcing work on or plans for retail CBDCs

Bhutan, Chile, Hong Kong, Laos, New Zealand and Taiwan.

An announcement was made about Iran’s plans but these appear to be for a wholesale CBDC.

China Continues to have e-Yuan Ready for the Winter Olympics

With under 100 days to go to the winter Olympics, China is encouraging domestic and foreign retailers to enable payment using the e-Yuan, China’s CBDC. Although foreign visitors will not be able to travel to China for the Olympics, it continues to work towards having the e-Yuan up and running.

McDonalds is reported to be allowing consumers to use digital renminbi wallets at 270 locations in Shanghai. However, China wants the roll-out expanded. It's being reported that it also wants Olympics sponsors such as Nike and Visa to include e-Yuan in their payment systems.