China digital currency: when will the e-yuan be launched, and what will it be used for? Karen Yeung, Andrew Mullen China began exploring the concept of a national virtual currency in 2014 with the success of e-commerce platforms Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu. Photo: Bloomberg When will China's sovereign digital currency be launched? China has not announced an official timetable for the official launch of its Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) system. The first glimpse of the planned digital currency emerged in April 2020 when a screenshot of a test version developed by the Agricultural Bank of China was leaked. Trials of the digital yuan began in May 2020 in four cities - Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu and the Xiongan zone near Beijing.