Changshu City, in China’s Jiangsu Province, is among the first administrations in China to pay its employees entirely in digital yuan.
The move is to cover Public Servants in Government Agencies, State-owned enterprises and public institutions such as State-run schools, hospitals and media outlets.
Digital yuan, also known as e-CNY, is the China Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) being piloted in 26 Provinces and cities.
The digital currency has been integrated into Alipay and Wechat Pay, China’s two dominant third-party payment platforms, and can be used for payment on at least 105 mobile applications, covering services from online shopping to buying petrol and natural gas.
Changshu is a County-level city with a population of more than 1.5 million was the first to pilot the digital yuan, beginning with some payments to its employees in October.
China’s Governments have taken a series of initiatives to promote the country’s CBDC.
Shenzhen has established more than 28 million digital yuan wallets and gave out more than 570 million yuan ($A123 million) worth of digital yuan in consumer subsidies last year.
However, the digital yuan has some way to go before mass adoption in China.
According to the People’s Daily, digital yuan in circulation totalled 13.61 billion yuan ($A3 billion) by the end of 2022, representing around 0.13 per cent of the Chinese yuan at the time.
In addition, the response to Shenzhen’s attempt to promote the CBDC to visitors from Hong Kong in March was less enthusiastic than expected.
Beijing, 26 April 2023
