Even as developed nations around the world progress to various stages of developing CBDCs, China appears to be far ahead of the others. However, a People’s Bank of China (PBOC) official revealed that some issues, particularly those relating to regulation and payments, remained.

The Central Bank’s deputy governor, Fan Yifei, stated at the China Digital Finance Forum that while e-CNY test runs have shown great potential, “some problems still need to be solved.” He went on to say that regulatory rules, acceptance environments, and payment systems all need to be improved and optimized.

The treatment of digital currency in relation to physical currency was a major point of contention for the office. He believed that the CBDC’s rules would be different from those used for regular currency. That its management should not be entirely based on account-based methods.

In addition, the official mentioned the advancement of technical infrastructure. He also stated that the PBOC was working to support the connection of e-CNY and traditional payment systems, as well as e-CNY digital wallets and bank accounts.

As more businesses experiment with the currency, the PBOC’s support for digital Yuan pilot tests has grown. It was recently reported that Chinese e-commerce giant Meituan has been invited to participate in the testing, as it will soon begin airdropping digital yuan “red packets” worth 10 yuan and will continue until the end of the year.

Millions of dollars worth of the currency have previously been issued and distributed in an effort to increase usage and testing. China has stated that it intends to fully release the currency by the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will be held in the country.

Aside from increased citizen adoption, industrial development has been brisk. Over 20 publicly traded companies recently announced the development of e-CNY products and services, including hardware wallets and various payment services.