China’s digital currency fails to excite locals: report

Chinese people showed little interest in switching from mobile payment systems of Ant, Tencent.

Whilst the rest of the globe braces for the possible impact of China’s rollout of its digital currency—set to be the world's first major sovereign digital currency—people who’ve actually used it do not see the hype at all.

People in China who have used the digital yuan showed little interest in switching from mobile payment systems run by Ant and Tencent, reports Bloomberg, based on people it has interviewed in Shenzhen.

“I’m not at all excited,” said Patricia Chen, a 36-year-old who works in the telecom industry and was one of the more than 500,000 people in Shenzhen eligible to take part in the trial.

Some even reported balked at the possibility a digital yuan might give authorities easier access to real-time data on their financial lives.

This is in contrast with the rest of the world—particularly in the US— where experts and even government officials wait in trepidation. Franklin Templeton’s Michael Hasenstab had warned that it could undermine the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency; and the White House is reportedly studying its potential threat to US interest.

Here’s more from Bloomberg.