Hong Kong debuts China’s digital yuan pilot, prohibits peer-to-peer transfers

China’s central bank digital currency is now available in Hong Kong as Beijing pushes hard to digitize its economy.

China has begun its first pilot outside the mainland, and the digital yuan is now available in Hong Kong’s local stores, according to a press release from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). Digital yuan, also known as e-CNY, is currently undergoing a pilot for cross-border payments.

Currently, the use of e-CNY is limited to Hong Kong residents, allowing them to load up to CNY 10,000 (about $1,385) into digital wallets through 17 retail banks in Hong Kong, including Standard Chartered Bank, ZA Bank and DBS Bank provides the opportunity to do so. .

According to the user manual of e-CNY published by HKMA, the application can be downloaded from both Google Play and Apple’s App Store. The city’s regulator said e-CNY wallets can only be used for cross-border payments, excluding person-to-person transfers during the pilot.

HKMA chairman Eddie Yue said Hong Kong will continue to work closely with the People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, and wants to “gradually expand e-CNY applications, enriching the range of functionality of the e-CNY wallet available to Hong Kong residents” . and accelerate efforts to promote the adoption of e-CNY by more retailers in the two locations.”

Meanwhile, policymakers in the US are trying to prevent US financial services operators from interacting with China’s digital currency. In early November 2023, Senator Rick Scott introduced the so-called China CBDC Ban Act, which would ban U.S. post offices, remittance companies, peer-to-peer crowdfunding platforms, and all money services businesses from facilitating any transactions involving China’s digital yuan.