{"id":16848,"date":"2021-04-14T16:18:32","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T16:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=16848"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:22:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:22:32","slug":"macau-may-test-issuance-of-virtual-currency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-may-test-issuance-of-virtual-currency","title":{"rendered":"Macau may test issuance of virtual currency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Analysts believe the issuance of virtual currency could transform Macau&#8217;s gaming industry as junket operators will no longer be needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Macau.- As part of its <strong>fight against money laundering and tax evasion<\/strong>, the Macau government has begun to seriously\u00a0<strong>study the possibility of testing the use of a virtual currency.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chinese authorities have chosen <strong>Macau as a testing ground together with Hong Kong<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The people&#8217;s Bank of China (PBoC) has announced it is <strong>working on the technical testing of using virtual currency\u00a0<\/strong>for cross-border payments between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are currently\u00a0<strong>six cities in China where digital currency is active<\/strong>, but the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the country&#8217;s interest in expanding use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Macau Gaming Research Association, the implementation of\u00a0<strong>a virtual currency could mark a before and after for the gaming industry<\/strong>\u00a0as customers could buy chips instantly using RMB without the need to convert to HKD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BNN Bloomberg has reported that <strong>junket operators are worried as this new implementation could render them unnecessary <\/strong>as a virtual currency could aid the flow of money for mass and premium mass play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Macau\u2019s junket operators have already been <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-junket-operators-at-risk-from-new-laws-and-covid-19-impact\">deeply affected by travel restrictions<\/a>\u00a0and China\u2019s restrictions against cross-border gambling services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Analysts believe the issuance of virtual currency could transform Macau&#8217;s gaming industry as junket operators will no longer be needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Macau government, in collaboration with Chinese authorities, is actively exploring the implementation of a virtual currency for cross-border payments, designating Macau and Hong Kong as initial testing grounds. This strategic initiative, primarily driven by anti-money laundering and tax evasion objectives, is anticipated to fundamentally transform Macau's gaming industry by potentially rendering junket operators obsolete and streamlining chip purchases for mass and premium mass players.","focusai_entities":"Macau government, People\u2019s Bank of China, Macau Gaming Research Association, BNN Bloomberg, junket operators","focusai_location":"Macau, Hong Kong, China","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), product_ux (0.8), tech_data (1.0), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Junket Disintermediation","query":"What specific governance frameworks and operational adjustments will Macau's integrated resorts need to implement to mitigate the revenue impact and operational void created by the potential disintermediation of junket operators?"},{"label":"Virtual Currency Integration","query":"What are the primary regulatory compliance and technological integration challenges for Macau's gaming operators in adopting a PBoC-backed virtual currency for cross-border GGR transactions, and how might this affect existing payment gateway partnerships?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338,158],"tags":[23906],"class_list":["post-16848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","category-slider-home","tag-macau-casinos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16848"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16880,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16848\/revisions\/16880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}