Key Takeaways
- Beijing and Suzhou allow digital yuan payments in subway stations
- China has conducted digital yuan lotteries in six cities since October 2020
- More companies have joined the e-CNY payment ecosystem
Authorities in the Chinese capital Beijing have integrated the digital yuan called e-CNY into its transportation network. A report on Wednesday stated that citizens that had activated the e-CNY app via the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China could pay for their subway tickets with digital currency.
Beijing has one of the most extensive subway networks globally, with more than 24 train lines and 428 stations. This development follows the airdrop campaigns made by the Beijing government some weeks back that rewarded over 200,000 citizens with 50 million digital yuan.
The city of Suzhou, west of Shanghai, has also issued a similar announcement, and 10 million residents will be able to pay for their train tickets via digital yuan. China has continued to step up testing of the digital yuan in its territory.
Six Chinese cities (Shenzhen, Suzhou, Beijing, Chengdu, Changsha, and Shanghai) have organized 11 digital Yuan lotteries aimed at their local populations since October. The lotteries have disbursed more than 500 million digital yuan, equating to about $40 million to citizens.
E-commerce giant JD.com has started paying its employees in e-CNY, and more companies are expected to follow suit. Chinese banks have also been active participants with over 2000 ATMs fitted with converting e-CNY to cash and vice versa. Despite these multiple experiments, China does not intend to deploy the digital yuan at the national level in 2021.
Do you think the Chinese digital yuan will be a resounding success when it is fully launched?
