China expands the central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot project. Guangzhou residents will now be able to pay for rides on local buses via e-CNY, and passengers from Ningbo will have access to paying in digital currency on the local subway.
The Chinese government has begun rolling out the next phase of e-CNY testing. Thus, residents of Guangzhou, with a population of more than 15 million people, will pay with the central bank digital currency for rides on public buses. This is reported by the local media.
Payments will be available on ten transit routes through Guangzhou’s picturesque sites and attractions. The government plans to expand the CBDC pilot project in tourist areas. It will be possible to pay fares through the Digital Rmb Construction Bank wallet, an official app for e-CNY, by scanning a QR code on the buses.
Citizens of the big Chinese port city Ningbo with a population of about 8 million people, will be able to use the CBDC to pay for a ride in the city subway. According to a local media report, 125 subway stations have begun accepting e-CNY payments. One can pay the fare directly at the station by scanning a QR code, as well as via the official Ningbo Metro APP by entering their e-CNY wallet data into it.
Apart from payment in public transport, the current stage of testing also includes trials of e-CNY smart contracts in the education system, particularly in elementary schools in Chengdu. Local media reports say parents will soon enroll their children in extracurricular activities using e-CNY. To do so, they will need to make a deposit linked to a certain number of lessons. Smart contracts will then automatically record attendance, refunding parents a portion of the deposit if they miss a class.
The Chinese government is not slowing down the pace of implementing a CBDC pilot version. After demonstrating e-CNY at the Beijing Olympics in February this year, over 100 million users from 11 Chinese cities already had access to the digital currency in April. By the end of June, e-CNY transactions exceeded $73 million in Guangzhou alone, and the country’s financial sector began actively introducing CBDC payments. In July, the digital yuan pilot project expanded to 12 more districts in China, and 4.5 million merchants nationwide began accepting e-CNY as payment.
