China adds eight banks as digital yuan operators, lifting the roster to 30

China’s central bank has approved eight more lenders to run digital yuan services. Beijing is attempting to make the currency an option for everyday and cross-border use.

With the addition of these banks, the number of authorized digital yuan operators has risen to 30.

What banks can offer digital yuan services?

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has announced that Ping An Bank, Hengfeng Bank, Bohai Bank, Bank of Shanghai, Bank of Hangzhou, Huishang Bank, Bank of Changsha, and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Bank will connect to the central bank’s digital yuan system and begin offering services once it finishes technical and operational setup. 

12 banks, including China CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, and Huaxia Bank, were previously added to the list in the last expansion. And before that round, only 10 institutions were cleared as operators. Six of these institutions were state-owned commercial banks, while the other four were two joint-stock lenders and two internet banks, respectively. 

The central bank said adding more operators will help more people access e-CNY services and meet the public demand for safe, easy payments. It also plans to continue expanding the operator list to encourage more competition.

Cryptopolitan reported that the PBOC listed steady development of the digital yuan among its core tasks in its 2026-2030 reform blueprint published August 10. 

What is the e-CNY being used for? 

The PBOC reported that the value of cumulative e-CNY transactions reached 16.7 trillion yuan ($2.3 trillion) by late 2025, spread across roughly 3.48 billion transactions and about 230 million personal wallets. 

However, Alipay and WeChat Pay still control more than 90% of China’s third-party mobile payments. Much of the e-CNY’s use is often in the background or incentivized through government initiatives, rather than being freely chosen by consumers over existing mobile payment giants.

That said, the central bank is also prepping the e-CNY for use in international payments. CBETS, the Cross-border e-CNY Transfer Services platform run by a Shanghai firm under PBOC management, signed its first 26 direct participants in June, including Standard Chartered Bank (China) and overseas branches of Chinese banks across Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Qatar, and other markets.

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