China’s central bank digital currency is reaching increasingly more consumers because 35 Chinese banks have embedded digital yuan wallets in their mobile apps, compared to the initial six, local media reported on Thursday.
- Small and medium-size banks are gearing up to provide e-CNY services to their customers, state-owned Shanghai Securities Journal reported.
- The 35 include joint-stock companies, city banks and some rural credit cooperatives. Initial testing for the digital yuan only included China’s big six state-owned banks.
- Another 94 banks, including three foreign ones, plan to access the digital yuan via a new clearing platform, the report said.
- The clearing platform is built by City Bank, a private Shanghai-based clearinghouse and technology provider.
- E-commerce giant JD.com, which has previously participated and even funded trials, has also successfully tested the central bank digital currency (CBDC) for business customers on its platform, local media reported yesterday.
- Trials for the digital yuan have been expanding across the country. The People’s Bank of China has said it will also test it during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
