Beijing continues testing the digital yuan. China’s virtual legal tender has recently been used for conducting futures transactions on one of the national commodity exchanges. For the first time in history, Chinese banks have used the digital renminbi in the domestic futures market. China’s authorities have recently reported on the first successful payment. According to the China Securities Journal, the digital yuan has been used to pay storage fees to a delivery warehouse in the Chinese city of Dalian in the northeast of the country. The Bank of Communications and Bank of China supported the transaction. The digital yuan payment had no transaction fees and was not “restricted to the operation period of the high-value payment system,” Jiang Bin, manager of the delivery warehouse, noted. Amid a successful trial, the Dalian Commodity Exchange is now planning to expand the use of the e-CNY. China has been the pioneer in the implementation of the national virtual currency. Since 2019, the People’s Bank of China has recorded over 1.32 million transactions in the digital yuan, covering payments for transportation, as well as catering and government services. The upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing are expected to become a breakthrough phase for China's digital renminbi.
