“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.”

“China’s central bank is pushing for interconnectivity between its digital yuan and other traditional digital electronic payment tools through universal QR code payments, as the country expands the pilots for its digital currency. Fan Yifei, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC),said at a forum on Thursday that standardization is key for the construction of a sound ecosystem for the e-CNY, the nation’s central bank digital currency. Fan said it is important to promote the unification of digital identity, QR code mechanisms, Bluetooth and near-field communications to allow consumers to scan a QR code for various kinds of payment access.”

“Chinese mobile payment platforms Alipay and WeChat Pay have begun allowing users to withdraw money online through credit card cash advances by cooperating with some banks, such as Bank of Ningbo, China Everbright Bank and Ping An Bank. Industry experts said the move will help raise the number of credit cards in use, make credit card users more active, and increase banks’ business volume. They also called for more efforts to strengthen supervision of the use of funds after withdrawal. The new function is now being tested on a limited scale. The amount of money that can be withdrawn from banks and at what interest rate is determined by the banks, and both Alipay and WeChat Pay will provide the service for free, according to the platforms’ service agreements.”

“Several Chinese cities have started using e-CNY payment methods in their public transport system as part of the next phase of the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot testing. According to a local report by Quinjia, Guangzhou Public Transport has launched the payment method for use in paying bus fares. The city now provides e-CNY QR payment codes that users can scan to pay using the CBDC wallet app.”

“The test version of China’s digital yuan payment app can now be linked to bank card accounts following an update yesterday. The new feature ensures that funds in the e-yuan wallet never run dry, industry insiders told Yicai Global. The app can automatically draw amounts from a linked account at a commercial bank when the e-yuan wallet’s balance is not enough, the sources said. Users also have the option not to link the app to a bank account.”

“According to local news outlet Sohu.com, on Tuesday, the state-owned Bank of China announced a new program to bridge primary school education with smart contracts. In a combined partnership with local education and financial authorities, parents residing in the city of Chengdu, located in China’s Sichuan province, will be able to enroll their children in after-school or extracurricular lessons using the digital yuan central bank digital currency, or e-CNY. Under the pilot test, parents start by paying a deposit to a private educational entity for a series of lessons. Afterward, a smart contract binds each lesson on a pro-rata basis to the deposit. This way, should their children miss a lesson, the e-CNY payment is automatically credited back to their account via smart contract.”

“In three years of experiments, China’s central bank has made significant progress in developing its central currency. Total transactions since late 2019 reached 83 billion yuan (S$16.8 billion) as of the end of May. Nearly 4.6 million merchants across China have come to accept the digital yuan, known as the e-CNY, as payment. People have used it for shopping, dining, personal finance and business uses such as paying taxes and employees. For all that, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) still has a long way to go in its digital currency project…Currently, the e-CNY is being tested in 23 cities and regions in 15 provinces and provincial-level cities.”

“China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot testing continues to onboard new use cases for the digital yuan. The country has now recorded its first instance of Intellectual Property (IP) financing on the CBDC platform. The Rural Commerce Bank of Zhangjiagang, located in China’s Suzhou province, has issued the first-ever digital yuan loan backed by intellectual property as collateral. In a press release, the Suzhou Market Supervision Bureau confirmed that a loan of 500,000 yuan (about $74,000) was issued to an unnamed business to fill its capital turnover gap…The loans go directly to the users’ digital yuan wallet, can be repaid via the CBDC platform, and allows for regulators to track illicit use as well as monitor fund flows for better policymaking.”

“Eight years after China first embarked on the path toward a digital yuan, the central bank’s pilot program for the digital yuan has been expanded to 23 cities covering nearly a fifth of the population. But a full launch of the currency remains elusive as a population already used to mobile payments such as Alipay and WeChatPay sees no reason to abandon their familiar apps.”

“China will fully respect privacy and protect personal information in using the digital yuan, state media quoted a senior central bank official as saying on Sunday, as Beijing encourages greater adoption of e-CNY. Limited anonymity is a key feature of the digital yuan, Mu Changchun, director-general of the central bank’s Digital Currency Research Institute said, noting it ensures reasonable anonymous transactions.  “On the other hand, it also prevents and combats illegal activities including money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion, maintaining the need for financial security,” the Securities Times quoted Mu as saying at a forum.”

“Chinese social media giant Tencent Holdings plans to shut down its non-fungible token (NFT) platform, which launched just one year ago, as Beijing’s strict ban on secondary markets for digital collectibles has largely killed its business potential, according to a report by Chinese media outlet Jiemian on Wednesday. The report, which quoted unidentified sources from Tencent, said that Huanhe, the unit that mints and distributes blockchain-based digital collectibles, will close as soon as this week.”

“According to data obtained from local news outlet Sohu.com, the Shenzhen Chamber of Commerce has recorded over 2.6 million signups for its latest digital yuan, or e-CNY, airdrop. Two months prior, the City of Shenzhen announced that it would be airdropping 30 million of the e-CNY central bank digital currency, or CBDC, to local residents to stimulate consumer spending as a recovery measure to the country’s strict coronavirus lockdown.”

“Shanghai residents can use China’s digital currency, the e-CNY, to take the Metro from Friday in an effort to further expand its presence in people’s daily lives. Through Metro Daduhui, the official app of the city’s subway operator Shentong, commuters will be able to pay their fares with the digital wallets of several major domestic banks. These include the Bank of Communication, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China and China Construction Bank. To promote the new digital scenario, the first 10,000 e-CNY users will be rewarded with certain discounts every day through September 15. They only need to pay a cent for a 4-yuan Metro ticket, or enjoy a 4-yuan deduction.”

“Chinese internet and tech giants on Monday signed an initiative to ban cryptocurrency and digital collectibles (NFTs), along with a promise not to establish secondary marketplaces. According to the South China Morning Post, Tencent and Ant Group joined a self-driven industry initiative to ban cryptocurrency and fight speculation.”

“Application scenarios for the e-CNY, China’s digital currency, will increase further as two-way e-cash flows will be made more accessible with the expected introduction of novel automated teller machines. Information from the China National Intellectual Property Administration showed the patent for the e-CNY ATM was announced on June 28. When such ATMs become ubiquitous, users can complete making deposits and withdrawals of the digital yuan under better security conditions, experts said….In late June, China Minsheng Banking Corp became the first commercial bank in the country to allow its corporate customers to pay wages in the e-CNY….The e-CNY application is now promoted in 23 Chinese cities, which represents substantial progress since the low-key launch of trials in April 2020.”

“Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a top-level meeting on Wednesday that approved a plan for the healthy development of China’s large payment firms and fintech sector, state media reported. The meeting outlined that China will step up the supervision of large payment firms to ward off systemic financial risks and will support platform companies in servicing the real economy, state news agency Xinhua said, without giving details.”

“When China announced in 2019 that it was working on its own national digital currency, there was widespread speculation about what role, if any, blockchain would play in a digital yuan, or e-CNY. One reason for this was that news of the digital yuan came just after Facebook announced its own digital currency called Libra, later renamed Diem and killed after its assets were sold off. While the warning signs of regulatory hurdles facing Facebook were apparent from the beginning, it was not clear three years ago that Facebook, one of the world’s largest tech companies, would fail. So Beijing moved up its timeline to launch the e-CNY…While the digital yuan attracted broad attention with comparisons to blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, the reality is that CBDCs are almost as different from each other as bitcoin is from the cash in your bank account.”

“Chinese financial-technology giant Ant Group Co. on Monday launched a digital bank in Singapore that will serve small businesses in the city-state, expanding the company’s footprint outside of China. Anext Bank, a wholly owned Ant subsidiary incorporated in Singapore, has started operations and will provide digital financial services to micro, small and medium enterprises, targeting those that engage in cross-border transactions.”

“Republican senators plan to unveil a bill that would bar U.S. app stores including Apple and Google from hosting apps that allow payments to be made with China’s digital currency, according to a copy of proposed legislation seen by Reuters.   The concern is the payment system could allow Beijing to spy on Americans. The bill is backed by Senators Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio and Mike Braun and states that companies that own or control app stores “shall not carry or support any app in [their] app store(s) within the United States that supports or enables transactions in e-CNY.”

“The tech-savvy people of China will now be able to enjoy a more convenient life in Guangzhou, where public transport tickets can be purchased via China’s digital yuan app. China is the country that first issued a digital version its national currency. It will now be offered in 23 cities. Because it is digital currency issued by central banks (CBDC), digital yuan belongs to the bank. The currency can be used by some Chinese commercial banks, but they will need to be issued a license from the Central Bank.”