The e-CNY, also referred to as the digital yuan, constitutes the digital rendition of the Chinese yuan (CNY) and aims to replace a portion of physical currency in circulation. In a statement released on 7 June 2024, HSBC Bank (China) communicated that its corporate clientele can now establish connections between their corporate bank accounts and digital yuan accounts to oversee their financial holdings.
The bank noted its collaboration with an educational group, enabling the receipt of payments in e-CNY across the company's six branches located in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Jiaxing, and Suzhou. Recently, Hong Kong unveiled the opportunity for users in the region to establish personal e-CNY wallets, aiming to encourage cross-border payments and promote broader adoption of the digital yuan among Hong Kong residents.
The People's Bank of China, China's central bank, initiated digital yuan pilots in late 2019, subsequently expanding the trials to numerous regions nationwide. According to theblock.co, although China has commenced salary disbursements to state employees in digital yuan within certain cities, a report by the South China Morning Post revealed hesitancy among users to embrace e-CNY payments, primarily due to functional limitations and privacy apprehensions.
In April 2023, China-based messenger app WeChat announced that it extended the use of digital yuan payments to transactions happening through its short video and mini-app platforms. This update represented an expansion of the e-CNY payments option that WeChat already supported since early 2022. According to WeChat’s announcement, only merchants that accepted e-CNY were able to receive payments in the central bank digital currency.
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