Share this article

Chinese State-Owned Bank Offers Test Interface for PBoC Central Bank Digital Currency

The Agricultural Bank of China has rolled out an internal test interface for the nation's central bank digital currency, allowing whitelisted users to register and trialing certain functions.

Updated Sep 14, 2021, 8:28 a.m. Published Apr 14, 2020, 6:52 p.m.
Chinese Flags

The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), one of the nation's four state-owned banking giants, is trialing a test interface for the country's central bank digital currency (CBDC).

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

Screenshots of an internal mobile application developed by the ABC, initially seen circulating on WeChat on Tuesday and later verified by CoinDesk, shows the banking giant has already developed a front-end interface of how users could potentially interact with China's CBDC – also known as DC/EP.

The move hints at the acceleration of the development and deployment work of rolling out the DC/EP. CoinDesk exclusively reported last year that the People's Bank of China had been developing the system with the involvement of the country's four big state-owned banks as well as payments giants Ant Financial and Tencent.

The testing application, which is also available for download on iOS and Android mobile devices via a site on ABC's domain, offers a peek into the features that will be offered through a DC/EP wallet, including paying via a QR code, receiving and sending payments and initiating transactions by touching another user's phone.

The application also offers users a registration option. However, it appears the registration function is so far in test mode as it only allows whitelisted users to complete the registration process.

That said, the registration step shows the test is currently being carried out in four Chinese cities including Xiong'An, Suzhou, Chengdu and Shenzhen.

Screenshot of the DCEP testing app by ABC
Screenshot of the DCEP testing app by ABC

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

GP Basic Image

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

More For You

Asia Morning Briefing: Fed Cut Brings Little Volatility as Bitcoin Waits for Japan

Aerial view of Tokyo (Jaison Lin/Unsplash, modified by CoinDesk)

CryptoQuant data shows seller exhaustion as whales pull back from exchanges, while traders prepare for a closely watched BOJ meeting that could influence global liquidity.

What to know:

  • Bitcoin remains stable above $91,000 as the Federal Reserve cuts rates by 25 basis points.
  • Market attention shifts to Japan, where a rate hike is expected at the upcoming Bank of Japan meeting.
  • Gold prices rise following the Fed's rate cut, while silver hits a record due to strong demand and tight supply.