China accelerates digital yuan push as 26 banks join new cross-border platform
The platform will make it easier to make cross-border e-CNY payments, with banks operating in Brazil, Qatar and Thailand among others already signed up
China has onboarded a first batch of 26 domestic and overseas financial institutions to its integrated cross-border digital yuan payment platform, marking a further step in building out the digital currency’s payment infrastructure amid Beijing’s push to scale up adoption of the digital yuan, also known as the e-CNY.
The institutions will join as direct participants in China’s Cross-border e-CNY Transfer Services (CBETS), which is managed by the People’s Bank of China.
The CBETS supports round-the-clock digital payment links with foreign central banks and overseas financial institutions, giving the member institutions direct access to the cross-border digital yuan network and reducing their reliance on traditional intermediary channels, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.
The Chinese central bank’s digital yuan international operations centre, which launched in September, created the new platform by consolidating several existing service modules.
The CBETS will sit alongside the CIPS, which focuses on traditional interbank payments, offering cross-border settlements in digital yuan using China’s digital currency infrastructure.