Tech giant Huawei is preparing to release HarmonyOS Next, which will fully support the People's Bank of China (PBOC) digital currency, the digital yuan..
The new system for mobile devices is planned to be released before the end of 2024. HarmonyOS Next will include “atomicity” – a key feature of CBDC aimed at enabling instant settlements between buyers and sellers. Details about HarmonyOS Next's “atomicity” feature are not yet known, but the digital yuan could be used for Internet of Things (IoT) transactions.. Since the launch of the digital yuan pilot, most experiments with it have been in the utility sector, so integration with the Internet of Things could open up new use cases for CBDC.
According to media reports, this operating system should also support smart contracts, and artificial intelligence (AI) can be integrated into it to make instant payments.. However, there are concerns about the slow pace of adoption of HarmonyOS Next. This is because the new OS will not be compatible with Android and will not run on Unix.. This could prevent its widespread adoption, which in turn will slow down the adoption of the digital yuan..
Android now holds a significant share of the Chinese mobile phone market, accounting for more than 60%. As for Apple's iOS and Huawei's existing Android-compatible HarmonyOS, their Chinese market share is 14% and 13%, respectively.
Let us recall that in 2020, the NBK already tested a hardware wallet for the digital yuan. Last year, former PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said e-CNY would help effectively combat financial crimes and money laundering.