WeChat to Integrate the e-CNY Digital Yuan as CBDC Transactions Cross 100 Billion

Over 100 billion transactions had been transacted via China’s digital yuan by the end of August 2022, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) said as it launched a mobile application to support the central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The new digital yuan app for iOS and Android on domestic app stores was launched in September 2022 and is available to users in 23 cities across the country, a report by China Briefing has said.

The app will enable millions of users to use the e-CNY by signing up through a range of commercial banks.

With the new app, millions of users shall be able to use the e-CNY by signing up through a range of commercial banks. In addition, the popular multi-purpose application, WeChat, also said it will be rolling out the e-CNY as a payment option on its platform.

Integrating WeChat is significant since the application has 1.2 billion users, out of whom 750 million are active on a daily basis.

The digital Yuan remains in the testing phase and is only available in the 23 cities which cover just 4 of China’s 31 provinces. In a recent announcement, the Vice President of the Central Bank indicated that the pilot will expand to more areas within the 4 selected provinces of:

• Guangdong
• Sichuan
• Hebei, and
• Jiangsu

Some of the key cities covered in the current scope of the pilot include:

• Beijing
• Shanghai, and
• Tianjin

The People’s Bank of China began e-CNY trials in April 2020 in 4 cities but the program has now expanded to 140 million registered users using the app as of October 2021. People get invites and cash incentives to onboard onto the e-CNY digital currency, a digitized version of China’s legal currency, the Renminbi (RMB).

Apart from the integration with WeChat, in May 2021, it was announced that the CBDC application would also be integrated into the ecosystem of Alibaba. With this integration, Chinese users of Alibaba’s various mobile applications for e-commerce, groceries, and delivery could pay using the CBDC.