The digital yuan pilot started in Shanghai with 270 McDonald's branches accepting central bank digital currency as payment, although reports indicated that companies including Visa and Nike are also being urged to accept the digital currency.
JD.com has teamed up with the Bank of Communications to give away $2.5 million in a lottery for the second time as the launch of digital yuan nears.
As part of its goal to become the world’s “tech superpower,” China’s central government is intensifying the crackdown on technology sectors.
The city’s railway announced last week that the digital yuan, or e-CNY, would be available immediately at 428 stations across its 24 lines, in a significant upgrade to the scope and scale of the pilot scheme.
The municipal government of Beijing announced that users of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China digital app would be able to pay for subway fares in e-CNY across all local routes.
In the wake of testing its central bank backed digital currency in different cities, China intensifies crackdown on block reward mining operations and digital currency transactions.
China’s central bank has issued a statement ordering commercial banks to cut off all digital currency-related activities, including over-the-counter digital currency trading merchants.
While announcing a roadmap that seeks to strengthen the region’s fintech sector, the HKMA revealed it has been collaborating with local and global bodies in its CBDC research.
The Beijing Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau plans to give away 200 red envelopes to local residents, with each containing 200 digital yuan (around $31).
The move was made possible by the involvement of MYbank, one of the leading internet-only banks in China, which is also majority owned by Ant Group.
JD.com confirmed recently that aside from the employees, it has also been paying off some of its business partners with the digital currency.
PwC published its inaugural Global CBDC Index recently, measuring global central banks’ maturity level in deploying their own digital currency.
