Hong Kong Expands Cross-Border Digital Yuan Trial, Allows Residents to Set Up E-CNY Wallets
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC) have expanded their cross-border digital yuan pilot to include e-CNY wallets for Hong Kong residents. The digital yuan, China's central bank digital currency (CBDC), can be set up using just a phone number and used for cross-boundary payments. The wallets can be used in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and other mainland China areas where the pilot is running. Users can pay merchants directly from the wallets without needing a mainland bank account and top up their wallets in real time through 17 Hong Kong retail banks using the Faster Payment System. The HKMA plans to continue working with the PBOC to expand the application of the e-CNY and explore features like name verification, enhancing interoperability in payments, and corporate use cases like cross-border trade settlement. The first phase of cross-border digital yuan trials was successfully carried out in December 2021, and a second phase has begun. Hong Kong is also testing its own CBDC, the e-HKD.
