on the crypto
The nation's first digital yuan insurance policies were issued in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, southern China, in what analysts describe as another major step forward in the wider deployment of China's digital currency.
The use of the Digital Yuan will be more and more widespread
The Shenzhen branch of Pingan Property Insurance, in partnership with the Bank of China branch in Shenzhen, has issued the first batch of insurance policies in digital yuan, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported Tuesday.
The move aims to conduct a simulation exercise for using the digital yuan in multiple application scenarios and information systems, Wang Peng, an assistant professor at Renmin University of China's Gaoling School of Artificial Intelligence, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
It also aims to cultivate user habits for a broader range of application scenarios, as previous trials were primarily concerned with e-commerce and online payments, according to Wang.
"As more and more users get used to making payments with the digital yuan and the market matures, application scenarios can expand from the insurance sector to more scenarios such as financial services, life services and even the purchase of funds and securities trading Wang said.
The pandemic also has something to do with it
The emergence of such insurance policies represents the insurance industry's pilot application of digital yuan to online premium payments, bringing digital yuan into people's daily lives, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.
The new insurance policy targets healthcare workers in Shenzhen's Nanshan District and provides 300.000 yuan (46.221) of death coverage from COVID-19. According to media reports, he pays 50.000 yuan if a health worker is diagnosed with COVID-19 and 50.000 yuan for an accidental death.
Applicants are entitled to an exclusive preferential allowance if they use the digital yuan wallet to make payments, reports say.
Pingan Property Insurance will further explore the application of the digital yuan in claims, payments and other aspects and continue to expand the use of the digital yuan in the insurance industry to multiple scenarios, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported, citing an official at the Shenzhen branch of Pingan.
Increasing use in China
In mid-October 2020, when China began publicly testing the digital yuan in Shenzhen, the local government and central bank of China jointly distributed 50.000 digital red packets each containing 200 yuan. It was the first time that the digital currency was tested in a public setting.
Since then, China has continued to promote the application of the digital yuan, with a significant increase in bidding projects for the sector targeting several Chinese cities, media reported Tuesday.
China Mobile on Friday revealed a patent for a technology designed to improve the security of users' digital currency assets.
