China starts to use digital yuan to pay for public transport

In the first five months of 2022, the total sum of transactions in e-CNY amounted to $121 billion

24.08.2022 - 10:30

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What’s new? On August 23, China officially launched the second phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) testing. According to Cointelegraph, the digital yuan can now be used to pay for public transportation fares. Passengers can use this function by scanning a QR code, which will transfer them to the e-CNY application to confirm the transaction. The innovations apply only to 10 transit routes in the city of Guanzhou so far.

Material by Cointelegraph

What else is known about CBDC testing? Also, residents of the city of Ningbo will be able to pay for subway fares using the state’s digital currency. It has become the ninth city to implement a trial version of payment in digital yuan for underground transportation.

Among other things, the country’s authorities have started to cooperate with local food delivery service Meituan. About 6 million unique users have used this app to pay the order in digital yuan.

In just the first five months of 2022, the total sum of transactions in e-CNY amounted to 830 billion yuan ($121,4 billion).

In April, six cities in Zhejiang province began to test paying taxes using the digital yuan. Residents in the province can pay income tax, property tax and make social security contributions. Also, the state digital currency can also be used to pay for travel on toll roads.

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