China which has always been keen on the usage of its digital currency e-CNY has now found a bright idea to boost the adoption of the e-CNY or Digital Yuan. According to a China-based news outlet, China has created a cross-border use of its sovereign digital currency mainly targeted at Hong Kong tourists.
The People’s Republic Of China has implemented a rule to lure tourists from Hong Kong to use the e-CNY to make payments by offering shopping discounts for payments made by the e-CNY wallets in the southern technology hub of Shenzhen.
The Enhancement Of e-CNY Adoption
Prior to supporting the cross-border use of the e-CNY, China has since been preaching the adoption of its digital currency. So far, the country has made accessing digital currency easy for its citizens. As of now, Hong Kong residents can obtain a physical e-CNY card which can be used for payment in any supported stores.
Marked as “Greater Bay Area,” the e-CNY card is issued by the Bank of China and can be provided within minutes of registering and printed using an Octopus card, a dominant cashless payments system for public transport and retail in Hong Kong.
Owners of the e-CNY card can shop and make payments in any supported stores or at the over 1400 designated outlets in the Lo Wu district by clicking the card with an e-CNY terminal. Each payment made via the e-CNY enjoys a 20 percent discount when shopping.
Notably, prior to the discount rule, China has been promoting the e-CNY via a campaign that led to more than 600 Hong Kong residents having an e-CNY wallet. The country has also aimed at improving the e-CNY wallet by making other means a form of digital currency wallet.
A branch official noted, “the bank planned to explore more forms of digital currency wallets, such as integrating wallets into SIM cards so that visitors from Hong Kong can use the same card for both communications and payments.”
Furthermore, China-based companies have also been endorsing the adoption of the e-CNY in the past months. Last December, Alipay integrated with the digital yuan by allowing support for the digital currency for quick transactions at all its e-commerce platforms.
