China will advance the design and implementation of the digital yuan, or e-CNY, as the country ramps up efforts to digitize the renminbi, said Yi Gang, the governor of China’s central bank, on Tuesday.
China is the first major economy to create a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which is the digital form of the yuan. Pilot projects have been rolled out in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen since late 2019.
The central bank has already partnered with fintech and e-commerce giants Ant Financial and JD.com to promote the use of its CBDC, and those who are in cities where pilot projects are organized can access their e-CNY wallet through Alipay, which has more than 1 billion users in China. Over 123 million people in China now have a “digital wallet” that can hold the CBDC, and the total transaction amount reached RMB 56 billion (USD 8.76 billion) in October.
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