China’s central bank has approved eight more financial institutions to launch digital yuan services. Beijing aims to make the currency available for daily and cross-border use.
With the addition of these banks, the number of authorized digital yuan operators has increased to 30.
Which banks can offer digital yuan services?
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced, that Ping An Bank, Hengfeng Bank, Bohai Bank, Bank of Shanghai, Bank of Hangzhou, Huishang Bank, Bank of Changsha, and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Bank will connect to the digital yuan system and begin providing their services after completing technical and operational setup.
During the last expansion phase, 12 banks were added to the list, including China CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, and Huaxia Bank. Prior to that phase, only 10 institutions were approved as operators. Six of them were state-owned commercial banks, while the remaining four consisted of two joint-stock banks and two internet banks.
The central bank stated that adding more operators will help more people access e-CNY services and meet public demand for safe and simple payments. It also plans to continue expanding the list of operators to stimulate competition.
Cryptopolitan reported that the People’s Bank of China included the stable development of the digital yuan among its key tasks in the 2026–2030 reform plan, published on August 10.
What is the electronic Chinese yuan used for?
The People’s Bank of China reported that the cumulative transaction volume in e-CNY by the end of 2025 reached 16.7 trillion yuan (US$2.3 trillion), distributed across approximately 3.48 billion transactions and about 230 million personal wallets.
However, Alipay and WeChat Pay still control over 90% of third-party mobile payments in China. The use of e-CNY often occurs inconspicuously or is driven by government initiatives, rather than being consumers' free choice over the existing mobile payment giants.
Nevertheless, the central bank is also preparing the e-CNY for use in international payments. The CBETS platform, which provides cross-border remittance services in e-CNY and is managed by a Shanghai-based company under the control of the PBOC, attracted its first 26 direct participants in June. These include Standard Chartered Bank (China) and overseas branches of Chinese banks in Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Qatar, and other countries.
