China's central bank digital currency can now be used on insurance policies that offer various levels of compensation for diagnosis of or death due to COVID-19.
China's nascent central bank digital currency, the digital yuan, has already been deployed for an extensive array of successful pilot schemes, ranging from e-commerce to salary payments and to festive traditional lotteries.This week has reportedly seen the currency debut in the insurance industry, in the city of Shenzhen, where it is being piloted by the local branch of the People’s Bank of China together with a local subsidiary of China’s leading insurer, Ping An.The project involves a new insurance policy tailored to medical workers in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district, offering them various levels of compensation for diagnosis of or death due to COVID-19.Workers are being incentivized to use the digital yuan wallet to make their insurance premium payments by being offered the prospect of preferential allowance, according to the report.Wang Peng — an assistant professor at the Gaoling School of Artificial Intelligence at the Renmin University of China — has said that the pilot is significant as it extends the use of the digital yuan well beyond e-commerce and retail payments and can demonstrate its feasibility in a much wider range of more complex application scenarios.
