China’s central People’s Bank of China has over 261m people in the country who had activated digital yuan pockets by the end of the last year – this is in addition to the 20+ users who downloaded its official pilot application, which was made available to some markets in some cities earlier in the month.
Currently, nine commercial banks, some of which are state-owned, and some private financial entities, such as Tencent’s Pay or the e-commerce giant Amazon, offer digital yuan wallets. However, only those who live in pilot areas can access them.
These pilot zones include tech-powerhouse cities like Shenzhen and Shanghai as well as parts and all of Beijing.
The PBoC announced the news at a press conference that was chaired Xinmin by Zou Lan (director of financial markets).
Zou Lan stated that 8 million merchants had adopted digital yuan payment options by December 2013. The token, also known by the e-CNY was used in USD 13.8bn transactions.
However, many heavyweight businesses, including three major airlines have now added digital CNY payment capabilities to their operations.
Although the bank refused to give a time frame for a full-scale rollout, foreign visitors will be able to use the token in the next fortnight. This is when the international athletes in Beijing will be invited to use digitally compatible smartphone apps and wristbands.
Zou Lan, however, explained that the PBoC wanted to “further develop the pilot,” extending its usage to “retail transactions and government services” but that it would soon be felt in “real economic” and provide a boost for industrial sectors.
Scol reported that digital CNY adoption in Chengdu is currently underway. The city’s take-out food delivery service Meituan has teamed up with the Bank of China, one of the largest commercial, state-owned banks in the country, to offer a promotion that rewards digital yuan-paying customers. This includes e-CNY cashbacks, handouts of up USD 6.30, and handouts of upto USD 6.30 for orders of “low-carbon consumption”.
Customers were able use the offer to rent bikes, order plastic-free food delivery, and purchase train tickets online using cashback tokens or giveaway tokens.
bestadmin
