Key Points
- The Peoples Bank of China (PBOC) has started trials for their digital Yuan on offline payments.
- The offline payments program will involve the use of SIM Cards.
Peoples Bank of China has started trials for its plans to allow users to make phone payments using the new digital Yuan without internet connectivity. One of the key parts of the plan is integrating the e-CNY app with specialized SIM cards with near-field communication capabilities.
Peoples Bank of China heads trials on settling offline digital yuan payments via sim cards
The e-CNY was launched in 2022 and has struggled to gain usage. However, the Peoples Bank of China is still working on it as it has already gained widespread usage, though slowly. Instead, it is increasing its efforts to make it more user-friendly and accessible.
It announced on July 10 that it has partnered with China Telecom and China Unicom, a major telecommunications operator in the country, to commence trials on offline SIM card-powered e-CNY money transfers.
The People’s Bank of China plans to allow users to easily access the digital Yuan and use it anywhere without many obstacles. In the social post, the bank said
“On July 11, Peoples Bank of China, China Telecom, and China Unicom will jointly launch SIM card hard wallet products on the digital renminbi APP, realizing another innovative achievement in the cross border of finance and communication and providing more universal and convenient payment for digital renminbi applications way and experience.”
The post also added that the product would be launched soon in some pilot areas, and invited users could experience it. It added that at the pilot testing phase, only Andorid-powered phones with NFC function would support the new SIM card hard wallets.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on this and other fintech-related developments.