China's Minsheng Bank and e-commerce giant JD.com have partnered to launch a digital yuan payment service. The service allows Minsheng customers in the CBDC pilot zone to link their bank-issued digital wallets to their JD accounts and make payments with digital yuan tokens.

JD is the Chinese equivalent of Amazon and has been one of the People's Bank of China's (PBoC) closest business partners since the CBDC pilot program began. To incentivize adoption of the digital yuan, Minsheng is offering customers who link their wallets to their JD accounts a one-time discount coupon worth more than $4. Customers who share details of the promotion on social media platforms can also receive an additional e-CNY coupon worth 88 yuan (about $12.30). The number 8 is considered lucky in China.

The launch of the digital yuan payment service by Minsheng and JD.com is a significant step forward in the development of the CBDC in China. It is the first time that a major bank and e-commerce platform have partnered to offer a digital yuan payment service. The partnership is likely to help to increase the adoption of the digital yuan among consumers and businesses.

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More than 420,000 merchants in Changsha, China, now accept payments in the digital yuan, China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The city is located in Hunan Province and was added to the pilot in April 2021.

In February this year, Changsha authorities said that 300,000 merchants in the city were processing digital yuan payments.

But the same authorities now say that figure has leaped up above the 420,000 mark, the Changsha Evening News reported (via the Hunan Daily).

Changsha claimed that this figure comprised bricks-and-mortar businesses only.

The city said that it did not take online vendors into account.

The city stated that 22 million personal CBDC wallets have been opened in the city since the pilot began.

In addition, 800,000 “public” wallets have been opened for firms and government organs located in Changsha.

The city added that a total of 62 million transactions have been made since the pilot began.

Changsha said that the total value of these transactions was over $1.4 billion.

Located in central China, the city is one of the nation’s most populous.

Over 10 million people live in the city itself and many more reside in the surrounding Greater Changsha Metropolitan Region.

CBDC on the Rise in China: Digital Yuan Gaining Ground?

According to the data released by the central People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the “popularity” of mobile payments reached the 90% mark last year.

The PBoC has begun cross-border pilots with Hong Kong and Macau, which will allow Beijing to test the CBDC in international markets.

Although Hong Kong is officially part of China, it retains a separate economic system.

This system is linked to Western and other Asian economies.

Macau also has a separate currency and economic system.

Some Hong Kong-based securities firms have recently suggested that a digital yuan link with Mainland China could allow entities based in Chinese cities to finance initial public offerings (IPOs).

This could well allow the digital yuan to find usage cases in “international markets,” as the PBoC continues to hunt for new CBDC breakthroughs.

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Key points

State employees in Changshu, a city in China's Jiangsu Province, will receive their salaries in digital yuan from May.

This move will extend to employees of government agencies, state-owned enterprises, and public institutions, including state-run schools, hospitals, and media outlets.

Digital yuan is China's CBDC project, also known as e-CNY, which is piloted in at least 26 provinces and cities.

The digital currency has been integrated into Alipay and Wechat Pay, China's two dominant third-party payment platforms, and can be used for payment on at least 105 mobile applications.

Changshu was among the first piloting areas of digital yuan and started to issue digital yuan subsidies to state employees in October 2022.

Taicang, another country-level city under Suzhou, started to pay public institution employees' wages in digital yuan in June 2022.

Shenzhen saw over 28 million digital yuan wallets established by the end of 2022 and gave out more than 570 million yuan (US$82.58 million) worth of digital yuan in consumer subsidies in 2022.

Digital yuan in circulation totaled 13.61 billion yuan (US$2 billion) by the end of 2022, representing around 0.13% of the Chinese yuan at the time.

Response to Shenzhen's attempt to promote the CBDC to visitors from Hong Kong in March was less enthusiastic than expected.

According to a report by People’s Daily, the official publication of the Communist Party, state employees in Changshu, a city in Jiangsu Province, China, will begin receiving their salaries in digital yuan from May. The move extends to workers in government agencies, state-owned enterprises, and public institutions, including schools, hospitals, and media outlets.

Digital yuan, also referred to as e-CNY, is China’s central bank digital currency project and is currently being piloted in over 26 provinces and cities. The digital currency has already been integrated into China's two primary third-party payment platforms, Alipay and Wechat Pay. It can be used for payment in more than 105 mobile applications, providing services such as online shopping, and purchasing gasoline and natural gas.

Changshu, a county-level city in Suzhou, the provincial capital of Jiangsu Province, was among the first to pilot the digital yuan project. The city started issuing digital yuan subsidies to state employees in October 2022. Taicang, another county-level city under Suzhou, also started paying public institution employees’ wages in digital yuan in June 2022.

China's government has implemented various initiatives to promote the use of digital yuan. Shenzhen, a southern metropolis with a population of over 17 million, had more than 28 million digital yuan wallets established by the end of 2022, and gave out over 570 million yuan (US$82.58 million) worth of digital yuan in consumer subsidies in 2022, according to a local media report.

However, there is still a long way to go before digital yuan sees widespread adoption in China. The total circulation of digital yuan was only 13.61 billion yuan (US$2 billion) by the end of 2022, representing approximately 0.13% of the Chinese yuan at that time, according to a report by People's Daily in January. Moreover, the response to Shenzhen's attempt to promote digital yuan to visitors from Hong Kong in March was less enthusiastic than expected.

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CBDC and de-dollarization saw major strides last week with the 1-million-barrel deal on the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange.The digital yuan has been used for the first time to settle an oil transaction, the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange (SHPGX) announced. PetroChina International bought 1 million barrels of crude on Oct. 19. The transaction was a response to a call by the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government to apply the Chinese central bank digital currency (CBDC), also referred to as the e-CNY, to international trade, the exchange said. It is “another major step forward” for the digital yuan, according to the state-controlled China Daily.The seller and the price in the transaction were not disclosed. For comparison, the price of the “OPEC basket” of oil from 13 producers was $95.72 per barrel on Oct. 19.The crude oil deal also marks an overall major step in the use of the yuan on the international market and in the global movement toward de-dollarization. In the first three quarters of 2023, the use of the yuan in cross-border settlements was up 35% year-on-year, reaching $1.39 trillion, China Daily reported. The yuan was first used for a liquified natural gas (LNG) purchase on SHPGX in March when the French TotalEnergies agreed to sell LNG to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). The second LNG deal in yuan occurred last week between CNOOC and French Engie. Those transactions did not involve the digital yuan.#yuan #BinanceSquare #cbdc #CryptoNews #trending $USDC $BTC

State employees in Changshu, a city in China’s Jiangsu Province, will receive their salaries in digital yuan from May, as China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) makes inroads in daily use, according to a Monday report by the Communist Party’s publication People’s Daily.

The move will extend to employees of government agencies, state-owned enterprises and public institutions – such as state-run schools, hospitals, media outlets.

Digital yuan, also known as e-CNY, is China’s CBDC project that is piloted in at least 26 provinces and cities. The digital currency has been integrated into Alipay and Wechat Pay, China’s two dominant third-party payment platforms, and can be used for payment on at least 105 mobile applications, covering services from online shopping to buying gasoline and natural gas.

Changshu is a county-level city with a population of over 1.5 million under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, the provincial capital of China’s Jiangsu Province. Changshu was among the first piloting areas of digital yuan, and started to issue digital yuan subsidies to state employees in October 2022.

Changshu is not the first Chinese city to issue digital yuan salaries. As early as June 2022, Taicang, another country-level city under Suzhou, started to pay public institution employees’ wages in digital yuan for the first time in the country, according to a local government report.

China’s governments have taken a series of initiatives to promote the country’s CBDC. Shenzhen, the country’s southern metropolis with a population of over 17 million in 2021, saw over 28 million digital yuan wallets established by the end of 2022, and gave out more than 570 million yuan (US$82.58 million) worth of digital yuan in consumer subsidies in 2022, according to a local media report in February.

But the digital yuan has some way to go before mass adoption in China. According to People’s Daily in January, digital yuan in circulation totaled 13.61 billion yuan (US$2 billion) by the end of 2022, representing around 0.13% of the Chinese yuan at the time. Response to Shenzhen’s attempt to promote the CBDC to visitors from Hong Kong in March was also less enthusiastic than expected.

#yuan #Binance #crypto2023 #BTC #BNB

Central banks around the world no longer look at the US dollar with the same certainty they did just years ago, according to a new survey.

Institutional asset manager Invesco surveyed 57 central banks and found they’re concerned America’s behavior on the geopolitical stage, plus its surging debt levels, are threatening the reliability of the dollar.

The US treatment of Russians in reaction to the country’s conflict with Ukraine is a glaring example of their concerns, the survey found.

“The freezing of Russian assets by Western nations has thrust the world’s reliance on the US dollar as the dominant reserve currency into the spotlight, raising questions about its long-term viability amidst high US debt levels. A growing percentage of central banks year-on-year believe that the US debt levels are negatively impacting the Dollar…

While very few actually see a world where the Chinese yuan becomes the world reserve currency, central bankers are still expecting to increase their renminbi holdings over time, driven by “strong performance and uncorrelated returns,” according to the survey.

Invesco’s report also found that central bankers believe that gold is another asset that has become more attractive now that the dollar has lost some of its charm.

“A substantial percentage of central banks are concerned about the precedent set by the US freezing of Russian reserves, with the majority (58%) agreeing that the event has made gold more attractive. Consequently, central banks now prefer to hold physical gold rather than gold ETFs or derivatives (figure 5.6). Physical gold holdings have increased the most when compared with 2020, while gold ETF usage has fallen.

‘Gold has played a crucial role during the last couple of years: We increased the exposure 8-10 years ago and had it held in London, using it for swaps and to enhance yields, but we’ve now transferred our gold reserves back to our own country to keep it safe – its role now is to be a safe-haven asset’ said one central bank based in the West.”

#bank #banks #yuan

It will be available on the #Ethereum and #BNB Chain networks — the new project will be regulated by Asian regulators.

According to analysts, the new stablecoin could be a response to the regulatory pressure that similar #crypto #projects in the US are experiencing.

🤔 We are waiting for a stablecoin tied to the #yuan .

Student athletes from around the world will get the chance to use #China ’s digital #yuan  in July, with the #CBDC  put to use at the Summer World University Games in Chengdu.

Per the Chinese media outlet The Cover, the games will become the first “major international sports event” to “officially use the digital yuan following the Beijing Winter Olympics.”

The Summer World University Games is a biannual event that sees university students from around the world compete in a number of sports, such as athletics, rowing, swimming, gymnastics, and tennis.

Organizers claimed they had “successfully created” public digital yuan wallets that will be used by the event’s Executive Committee.

The organizers also claimed they had “achieved initial results” in applying the CBDC to event-connected “scenarios” such as catering, medical care, and transport.

The Digital Yuan at the Summer World University Games

The event’s official partner is the state-owned commercial bank the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

The ICBC was one of the first banks in China to launch a digital yuan wallet back in 2020.

But the organizers have not yet announced if athletes will be issued with digital yuan hard wallets, as was the case at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

During the Olympics, the only form of payment accepted at Olympic Village outlets were Visa card payments and the digital yuan.

But efforts to showcase the coin to the world were hampered by the coronavirus pandemic, which meant no spectators were allowed at the event.

Chinese financial sector officials are hoping to repeat the showcase on a larger scale at the Asian Games in September.

The Asia Games will be held in Hangzhou from September 23 and will likely see a range of digital yuan promotions prepared for international spectators.

A range of commemorative, wearable, games-themed digital yuan hard wallets has already been developed ahead of the opening ceremony.

Public transport networks in and around Hangzhou have also been upgraded so they can accept digital yuan payments.

Student Athletes to Use CBDC?

The Summer World University Games had originally been slated to take place in Chengdu in 2021.

But the games were postponed due to the pandemic, as well as clashes with other Olympic events.

The event will thus be held under the shorthand name “Chengdu 2021” – despite the fact it is being held two years late.

According to Fujin News, individuals and businesses in China’s Fujian Province have processed digital yuan transactions worth nearly $22 billion, a number that reflects the rapid progress of the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative.

It also comes during a time in which the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has banned the use of other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The reports follow news from 2022, in which three Chinese provinces declared their intention to distribute digital yuan (e-CNY) to citizens in the form of “red packets,” with a total value of around 90 million yuan.

Fujian Province was included in the pilot zone for the CBDC last year, and it made history in October by completing China’s first digital yuan-powered land transfer transaction.

Official statistics from the province reveal that citizens have spent over $14.5 million on digital yuan transactions, and nearly $9 million worth of digital yuan tokens were distributed during promotional events by the province and its partners.

The media outlet further reported that a total of 2,572 vendors and merchants in Fujian Province now accept digital yuan payments, including toll booths on the Fuxia (Fujian-Xiamen) Expressway, which is a crucial network of highways traversing the region.

Increasingly, Chinese toll booths are enabling drivers to pay highway tolls using the country’s CBDC.

The province announced that it has established e-CNY “tax payment points” in unmanned “electronic tax bureaus” and banks across the area. It disclosed that individuals and businesses had utilized these payment options and others to pay $254 million in taxes over the last year.

Moreover, since the inaugural e-CNY-powered land transaction in October, an additional 74 properties have been exchanged using digital yuan.

Push for a digital yuan

According to Fujian, the province started providing digital yuan relief loans to local enterprises in November of last year. Additionally, it has been employing the digital currency to procure carbon sinks for environmental enhancement initiatives.

Fujian reported that it has executed 14,700 e-CNY payments for carbon sinks since the launch of the program.

Read more: Chinese cities gives away $26.6M in Digital Yuan to drive adoption

According to the Global Times, around 200 events were organized and approximately 180 million Digital Yuan (e-CNY) were distributed as subsidies and consumption coupons in various Chinese cities during the 2023 Spring Festival holidays. The total value of the e-CNY distributed was over $26.6 million.

In Hangzhou, each resident was given an e-CNY voucher worth 80 Yuan ($12). The city also allocated 4 million Yuan (approximately $590,000) to boost holiday spending.

Fujian has announced its intention to further advance the adoption of digital yuan in the future. The province plans to concentrate on utilizing the CBDC in “smart contracts and supply chain financing.”

In the meantime, the central bank is aiming to demonstrate the digital currency’s capabilities in ongoing cross-border trials in Macau and Hong Kong.

Other cryptocurrencies, however, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, have been banned in mainland China since 2021. Following China’s ban, more than $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency left East Asian accounts to accounts outside the region, Chainalysis found.

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