China Pushes McDonald’s, Nike & Visa To Get Onboard The CBDC Launch
Beijing is pushing McDonald’s to support the digital yuan before the Winter Olympics in China scheduled for February 2022, according to Financial Times sources. China is also trying to get companies like Visa and Nike to join in on the central bank digital currency (CBDC) rollout.
China is preparing for its full roll-out of the CBDC in February 2022, scheduled during the introduction of the Beijing Winter Olympics. According to the Financial Times’ sources, the Chinese government wants McDonald’s to get on board with the digital yuan. Many McDonald’s restaurants in Shanghai are currently testing China’s CBDC, FT reports.
According to FT sources, Beijing is pressing the company itself to get more McDonald’s restaurants to follow Shanghai’s lead. A source stemming from McDonald’s told FT:
“Shanghai is our pilot city and we will learn from customers’ response.”
The information regarding the pressure from the Chinese government derives from sources that are “close to China’s financial regulators,” according to the report.
Someone familiar with the situation said Visa, the top sponsor of the Olympic Games, and Nike, the sponsor of the US team, are also facing pressure. Both Visa and Nike declined to comment.
China Aims CBDC Roll-out for the Winter Olympics
China is getting closer to launching the digital yuan as news of the testing has been leaked to the media on a regular basis. For instance, two prominent financial institutions, China Construction Bank (CCB) and Bank of Communications (Bocom), are testing the CBDC for investment funds and insurance services.
China’s CBDC was leveraged in the country’s futures market at the end of August. Mid-July, the digital yuan’s white paper was published, which described smart contracts and tracing large transfers.
The digital yuan’s wallet was opened to 10 million Chinese citizens in July and a report noted that over $40 million in ‘digital yuan red envelopes’ has been dispersed since the project started. The country seems like it could be ready to launch the CBDC by the 2022 Winter Olympics in February.
China’s CBDC seems to be much further ahead than most countries. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell however, said at the end of September that he doesn’t think the U.S. is behind the eight-ball in terms of a CBDC launch.
