China is ramping up efforts to roll out the digital yuan to the broader population, CNBC reported. China has been working on a project for a long time. Therefore, it is now outpacing other countries with similar initiatives.
Rich Turrin, the international best-selling author of the book "Cashless: China's Digital Currency Revolution", believes that the digital currency is likely to challenge the dominance of the US dollar this decade. He expects the e-yuan to replace its rival as the main currency in international trade settlements in the next 5-10 years.
"Remember, China is the largest trading country and you’re going to see digital yuan slowly supplant the dollar when buying things from China. If we go about five to 10 years out, yes the digital yuan can play a significant role in reducing the dollar’s usage in international trade," Turrin told CNBC. He also stresses that many nations are willing to reduce their 100% reliance on the US dollar to 85%. This is why they are looking for alternative payment systems.
The United States will need about five years to develop and test the digital dollar. Notably, such a project has already been discussed in the government. The Fed is significantly lagging behind China which has been developing a digital yuan since 2014.
Turrin also pointed out that the world's second-largest economy is currently "ahead in all financial technology by a decade." "The digital yuan is a baby in the sense that it is in trial but not yet launched domestically nor has it had any testing on an international basis," Turrin explained. ″China wants eventually to have the digital yuan broadly accepted and making it a sanction-buster now when it’s still a baby, would not help in that goal," he stressed.
