China to Pay Interest on Digital Yuan in Bid to Boost Adoption

China is about to start paying interest on its official digital currency in a fresh push to get more people to use it after about a decade of development and testing.

From Jan. 1, commercial banks that operate digital yuan wallets will pay interest to clients based on the amount of virtual currency they hold, Lu Lei, deputy governor at the People’s Bank of China, wrote in an article published on Financial News, a newspaper affiliated with the central bank, on Monday.

The move represents China’s latest step as one of the global leaders in developing an official digital ...