According to a recent blog post, China’s national blockchain project is looking to build a universal digital payment network, or UDPN, based on CBDCs of various countries as part of its 2021 roadmap. Currently, the beta version of UDPN is expected to launch in the second half of this year at the design stage. The Blockchain Service Network plans to complete the UDPN development in five years. With the UDPN, BSN aims to enable a standardized digital currency transfer method and payment procedure. 

The new system intends to bring several systems together.

 The new system intends to bring together banking, insurance, enterprise resource planning, and mobile apps through APIs to provide a cost-friendly global payment solution. According to the blog post, the BSN once again confirmed that China is serious about further CBDC development, pinpointing it as the biggest game-changer in the financial system. “The CBDCs will completely change the current payment and circulation methods of traditional currencies, consistently build payment systems’ resilience and significantly increase the global circulation of commodities and cross-currency settlement,” it further added.  

China continues to trial its CBDC. 

The UDPN is one of four goals on the BSN’s roadmap for the current year. The other three are further expanding the BSN network, promoting the private BSN platform, and broadening the BSN ecosystem. The BSN said that it would keep investing heavily in blockchain research and development in 2021 to accelerate blockchain technology’s mass adoption worldwide. The People’s Bank of China has been working on its national digital currency for a long time and is now very close to issuing it to the general public. The Chinese government has conducted the pilot project of its national digital currency in several cities.