Crypto China: Construction Bank in China Launches First Insurance Policy Paid in Digital Currency

China Construction Bank, one of the largest banks in China has started a new use case for the country’s much talked about digital yuan by issuing the first insurance policy completely paid in the national digital currency. The digital yuan settled insurance policy was launched in association with ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance.

Local media reports suggested that both the parties collaborated last month towards creating a new use case for the upcoming national digital currency in online insurance scenarios.

New Insurance Policy Available in Pilot Cities in China

The new insurance policy would be available to customers located in pilot cities where public trials for the use of digital yuan is currently underway. Customers can make use of e-yuan to purchase ZhongAn’s star Personal Clinic Policy on its local app. One of the executives at ZhongAn also revealed that they are actively working towards expanding the use case of digital yuan in the insurance market.

China is currently at the forefront of national CBDC plans due to its early beginnings, and currently, it is in the final stage of public trials with numerous pilot programs being run simultaneously across many cities. There were many speculations about a possible launch by the end of last year itself, however, now that public trials have expanded from a few government departments to several provinces, a launch might be just around the corner.

China is Major Center for CBDC Development

Many countries across the world have shown interest in creating their own sovereign national digital currency in the wake of growing demand and adoption of digital assets. The USA has already called for immediate action towards their national digital currency plans in the wake of China’s progress in the field, while many European and Asian countries including UK, Germany, Japan, and South Korea are also actively working towards creating one of their own.

Comparing the development of China’s national digital currency against the development made by other nations in the same field gives the impression that China is currently years ahead of its counterparts. The US might bring in new regulations in the coming years to make way for a faster implementation as they already view China’s growing influence in digital currency space as a threat to their monetary sovergnity.