Covid-19 Outbreak Delays Asian Games and Digital Yuan Launch

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has postponed the Asian Games 2022 to next year. On May 6, OCA announced that the Hangzhou Asian Games 2022 is put off until 2023. This is due to the repeated Covid-19 flare-ups in China.

Notably, this reschedule results in two important concerns: athletes are disappointed with the news, and people are throwing questions regarding the fast-track adoption of the digital yuan or e-CNY by the People’s Bank of China. The digital currency of China is likely to be used at the event.

Moreover, the Covid-19 impact and its frequent outbreaks have already weakened the economic growth of China. Therefore, many people are anxious and believe that the digital currency rollout will also suffer because of the dire situation. Significantly, Stanley Chao, the US-based president of All In Consulting, a business strategist, points out that the delay in Asian Games just signals a bigger issue for digital currency.

Chao said:

I don’t think the postponement of the various sporting events has a direct impact on China’s digital yuan, but rather, the reason why these events were postponed, because of Covid lockdowns, that impacts the digital yuan.

However, Chao opined that China wanted to create a buzz around the digital yuan by testing with major domestic and international events like Olympics, Hangzhou Asian Games, and Chinese New Year. “But with mass lockdowns, Chinese consumers aren’t in a buying mood. “This is definitely not the proper atmosphere to test the yuan,” he added.

Notably, the Hangzhou Development and Reform Commission stated that the trial experiments for the digital yuan launch will continue and the People’s Bank of China will lead the project.