“Xie is said to have expressed disappointment with the result of the digital yuan trial in select provinces and cities, noting that “the cumulative circulation of the digital currency in the two years of trial has been only ¥100 billion”. Adding that the usage has been “low and highly inactive”. Despite China being among the leaders in developing central bank digital currencies, Xie says that the digital yuan business had no synergistic effect and no commercial benefits in banks’ business.”

“More Chinese cities will be added to the nation’s digital yuan pilot – with a rollout edging closer to reality. Per the newspaper the Workers’ Daily, the city of Jinan, Shandong Province, will be added to the pilot area. Also joining the pilot will be Nanning and Fangchenggang in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as well as Yunnan Province’s Kunming. The Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture will also be added. The move sees the pilot move into somewhat unfamiliar technology. While the first batch of pilot cities comprised IT and financial powerhouses in the East of the country – the likes of Shanghai and Beijing – Yunnan’s economy is much more traditional. The province’s biggest industries include tobacco producers, agricultural firms, mining companies, and tourism operators.”

“The official wallet app of China’s digital currency has launched a red packet feature, a function made popular over the years by the country’s dominant payments app Alipay and WeChat Pay, in a fresh move to lure new users. The e-CNY app’s latest update, released over the weekend, allows users to send each other digital yuan-filled red packets – known as hongbao in mainland China. This comes just a month ahead of the Lunar New Year, when the Chinese traditionally give out red envelopes filled with cash to family and friends as a symbol of well wishes.”

“China’s digital Yuan project, a blockchain-based cryptocurrency for consumer and commercial finance, can no longer be considered a pilot. That’s the assessment by economic and cryptocurrency experts. Those experts have been monitoring efforts in China and other countries developing and piloting central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) with the aim of establishing a blockchain-based virtual cash that is cheaper to use and faster to exchange, both at home and across international borders. To date, the People’s Bank of China has distributed the digital yuan, called e-CNY, to 15 of China’s 23 provinces, and it has been used in more than 360 million transactions totaling north of 100 billion yuan, or $13.9 billion.”

“China’s sovereign digital currency has been embedded into Alipay, the popular digital wallet run by Ant Group, to facilitate “express payments” on the Taobao and Tmall e-commerce sites operated by Alibaba Group Holding, according to Li Chen, Ant’s chief compliance officer. The digital currency, known as e-CNY, is only available for users in about two dozen cities in China as part of a trial programme, as the central bank struggles to convince consumers to use it. After enabling the feature via the official e-CNY app, users can pay for orders on Taobao, Tmall and other Alibaba Group platforms like food delivery site Ele.me and grocery store Freshippo, with Alipay using the digital yuan.”

“China’s CBDC plans have long been in the pipeline. In 2016 China’s central bank laid out a blueprint for the country’s first Central Bank Digital Currency. In addition, the government urged banks and financial institutions to form alliances with other industries to accelerate the development of an industry-wide digital currency platform. This directive was intended to increase efficiency in the financial industry and make it more competitive against private sector initiatives. People who are interested need to know the impact of the digital Yuan on the Chinese market. Since then, several institutions have been involved in creating a standardized CBDC platform. As a result, the project is well underway, with over 120 projects completed by 2022. The country’s largest banks are the China Development Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The CBDC’s long-term vision encompasses its use as a reserve currency and national electronic payment system — which would significantly improve China’s international trade capabilities. As the world’s second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is looking to increase its influence on the international stage further. Coupled with its large domestic economy, an influx of FX reserves and a national payment instrument would give China the financial power to compete with economic superpowers like the United States and Japan.”

“China’s digital yuan took the centre stage in the world’s largest cross-border central bank digital currency (CBDC) trial to date, a report showed, pointing to how Beijing is speeding up yuan globalization efforts amid rising geopolitical tensions. China’s digital currency, or e-CNY, was the most issued, and actively transacted token in the $22 million pilot that used CBDCs to settle cross-border trades, a Bank of International Settlement (BIS) report showed. The six-week test, which ended late last month, is part of m-Bridge – a project that pilots cross-border payments in digital currencies issued by central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and United Arab Emirates.”

“Transactions using China’s digital yuan surpassed 100 billion yuan ($13.9 billion) as of Aug. 31, China’s central bank said on Wednesday, as the country continues its roll-out of a central bank digital currency. The spending involved 360 million transactions in pilot areas in 15 provinces and municipalities, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said, adding that more than 5.6 million merchants could now accept payments with the digital currency.”

“China continues to lead the pack on the central bank digital currency (CBDC) front as the first successful completion of a land transfer using the digital yuan has been conducted in the Chinese province of Fujian, according to reports.  The Fuzhou Institute of Foreign Languages ​​and Foreign Studies has successfully paid the 51 million yuan land transfer fee for a plot of land using the digital renminbi public wallet that the school opened with the Fujian branch of the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC). This marked the first such payment using the digital renminbi in Fujian Province.   The payment was facilitated by ABC Fujian Branch, which has also executed tax payments in Fujian using the e-CNY, the first tax payment by Taiwanese enterprises, the first offshore inclusive financial service point, and “many other initial demonstration scenarios.””

“China is moving to allay public concerns about data protection and privacy in using the digital yuan, vowing to implement clear laws concerning the monitoring of digital wallets. The country is a forerunner in the development of a sovereign digital currency, known locally as the e-CNY, rolling out trials in 23 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen since late 2019. Central bank data shows about 4.6 million merchants now accept the digital currency and more than 261 million digital wallets have been opened. Transactions in pilot regions totaled 83 billion yuan (US$11.6 billion) by the end of May. Despite the progress, worries have emerged about the government’s ability to track user information and the potential for competition with long-established digital payment platforms, Alipay and WeChat Pay.  To ensure managed anonymity, we need to strengthen legislation and improve top-level design,” Mu Changchun, head of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) digital currency research institute, wrote in the September issue of Modern Bankers magazine.  User information can only be analysed and monitored when transactions are suspected of violating laws concerning money laundering, terrorist financing or tax evasion, Mu said. “We need to ensure there is a limited scope for user information to be used,” he said. The design of e-CNY wallets is based on the principle of keeping small-sum transactions anonymous, but larger ones traceable, the official said.”

“The monetary policy regulator of China has called for improving the integration between the digital yuan (e-CNY) system and traditional tools for electronic payments. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) says this will increase convenience for users of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). To achieve that, additional efforts should be made to expand the scenarios and environment for the use of the digital yuan, PBOC Deputy Governor Fan Yifei emphasized in a statement during a recent forum on digital finance held in Beijing.”