Digital currency Photo: VCG

The development of China's digital currency has achieved initial results and the unit is undergoing internal testing, said a Chinese central bank official on Thursday.

Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (PBC), the country's central bank, said during a payment and settlement forum that the digital currency is an important part of the na-tion's financial supply-side structural reform.

"It is the digitalization of M0, or cash in circulation, by using new technologies, aiming to provide a universal technical currency for the development of the digital economy. The digital currency in China is undergoing internal testing," said Fan.

In terms of digital payments, Fan called for the active encouragement of the use of scientific and technological means to facilitate the application of electronic certificates and electronic signatures for enterprises to open accounts. 

"The internal testing is mainly to gauge the technical reliability and maturity of the digital currency. The internal test requires that the digital currency should only function within a very clear boundary, which is quite demanding for the test scenario," Chen Bo, director of the Digital Finance Research Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Thursday.

The PBC is being cautious in its testing, as it has limited the scope to internal tests. Only when the volume of transactions reaches a certain level can the central bank go for external testing, Chen noted.

As a derivative of the digital currency, digital bank cards have been another focus of market de-velopment and learning.

In August, China UnionPay and related institutions released the first "digital bank card", realizing the whole process of digital application and fast card acquisition, providing comprehensive and convenient digital financial services for cardholders.

Shares of digital currency-related companies surged on Thursday.

The central bank's internal experiment is up and running in Shenzhen in South China's Guang-dong Province, Xiongan New Area and other places in China, Yi Gang, PBC governor, revealed in May. The digital currency will be used in pilot scenarios for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

"It is unclear what scenarios the central bank will choose as the next test," said Chen.