A pilot version e-CNY, the mobile wallet for China’s digital yuan, has gone live on iOS and Android app stores in China.
Individual users in China may now download a version of the app to try out “personal wallet opening and management” and “e-CNY exchange and circulation services,” according toThe developer of the e-CNY app is listed as the People’s Bank of China’s Digital Currency Research Institute, an offshoot of China’s central bank.
To download the trial app and activate the wallet, users must be physically located in one of 11 locations: Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’an, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha, Xi’an, Qingdao, Dalian and the Winter Olympics area. The digital yuan is a so-called Central Bank Digital Currency — a kind of cryptocurrency issued and controlled by the government of a nation state.
While many countries around the world are investigating the technology, China has seized an early lead in readying a CBDC for public use.