The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, officially released the pilot version of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) wallet app. Otherwise known as Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), the e-CNY wallet app was developed by the PBOC Digital Currency Research Institute. Residents of China can finally download it on their iOS or Android smartphones.
This is a significant milestone for the app, as it was only available for download through a private link in the past. For interested users, the wallet app is entirely free of charge.
The PBOC Digital Currency Research Institute’s head, Mu Changchun, said in November 2021 that approximately 140 million Chinese citizens created a digital yuan account, according to data from October 2021. Since its launch, there have already been 62 billion yuan (US$9.7 billion) transactions.
Around the same time last year, PBOC Governor Yi Gang noted that China would keep improving and advancing its CBDC. Not only that, the digital currency’s design and usage will also improve in the coming years, including the improvement of its interoperability and payment tools.
When you download and launch the new digital yuan wallet app, you’ll see a note or disclaimer informing users that the app is still in a research and development pilot phase. In other words, it’s still not perfect, and you may encounter some bugs and limitations upon use.
SCMP says that new user registrations are still limited, specifically within the areas currently undergoing digital yuan trials with leading banks that support e-CNY services. These trial regions include Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha, Xian, Qingdao, and Dalian. You can also expect the venue of this year’s Winter Olympics to be a trial region, as Beijing will be the one hosting the event this year.
