China has been developing a digital yuan for quite a while now – since 2014. Recently that development entered a new stage as the country is planning for the digitial currency to be tested by major food chains like Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Subway. A meeting was organized by the development and reform bureau of Xiong’an New Area management committee and in it participated certain cryptocurrency research institutions and pilot merchants. Among the latter were representatives of the abovementioned major food chains, plus a representative of he popular Chinese dumpling eatery chain Qing-Feng Baozi. The other present parties, members of four large Xiongan banks - the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China – were there to discuss the testing of the digital yuan. China seems to be planning to launch the cryptocurrency in mid-2021. I have little doubt that the pandemic has only made them accelerate whatever plans they had.
So does this mean that the CCP will allow the Yuan to float and be traded internationally in the exact same way as the dollar and the franc? Will the CCP allow its citizens to move unlimited amounts of Yuan into and out of the Country? Will the CCP continue to maintain its huge currency trading desk tasked with artificially pegging the Yuan low versus the Dollar ? Will Chinese manufacturers and exporters still be mandated by the State to exchange their Dollars and other foreign currency receipts for Yuan? Will regional and local banks in China still be mandated by the CCP to automatically convert customer account foreign exchange receipts over to Yuan and send those Dollars to CCP headquarters? Or, is this just a convenient way for Chinese to pay for Starbucks and McDonalds ? Point being - the “digital” Yuan is NOT a legitimate cryptocurrency by literal definition. It’s Commie marketing for a tightly controlled and manipulated currency with a State orchestrated peg. But now you can buy a bucket of KFC with it digitally.
The foundation, the very definition of the term “cryptocurrency” is decentralized control. Which can NEVER happen with the Chinese Communist Party. And it is in this light that I find the OP’s post so disingenuous. He calls it a “cryptocurrency” in the second and fourth paragraphs of his OP. This is just another gimmick (there have been many) for the CCP to gain World Reserve Status for a currency for which they refuse to allow to fully float on world markets. You know - like a legitimate reserve status currency does. But the CCP issues a State app that allows someone to buy restaurant dumplings denominated in Yuan over an Android phone - and now the OP hails the Yuan as “cryptocurrency” (his words). BS.
It's controlled by the state so it will likely stay around for longer than that, but they will also have total oversight on who is spending and how is spending.