Starbucks and McDonald's linked with Chinese digital currency pilot
Starbucks and McDonald’s are among the retailers rumoured to be testing China’s digital yuan currency.
According to a report by Interchain Pulse, a promotion conference was held earlier this week in the new city of Xiong’an, located near Beijing. Government agencies, digital currency developers and merchants participating in an upcoming pilot were invited.
The initiative is part of the Xiong’an Smart City programme, which brings together enterprises, higher education institutions, research institutes and technology companies. Its board of directors includes the likes of Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba Group and Baidu.
The conference included a variety of retailers, with a strong emphasis on the food and beverage space. Alongside Starbucks and McDonald’s were various catering companies, hotels, supermarkets, bookstores and baozi street food vendors.
Bakkt
Starbucks is also testing a way to let users of its mobile app pay for coffee and food with the cryptocurrency Bakkt Cash, Adam White, President at Bakkt, recently announced in a tweet.
The retailer is currently conducting a limited test of Bakkt as a payment method, and is a launch partner for Bakkt's dollar-denominated digital wallet.