digital currency

Alipay connects more than 80 million merchants and over 2,000 financial institution partners, with over 1 billion users in China.

The e-CNY, China's digital currency, will be used for cross-border payments when conditions are ripe to meet market demand, a Chinese central bank official said on April 1.

China's e-CNY has run seven rounds of pilots in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Beijing, and Chengdu, distributing a total of RMB150 million ($22.88 million) in digital money.

If Alipay and WeChat experience technical or financial failures, it could have a negative impact on the stability of China's financial system, he said.

E-CNY, China's digital currency, features "controlled anonymity," a Chinese central bank official said recently.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is working with the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China to test cross-border payment technologies using digital RMB and make the appropriate technical preparations, said Chief Executive of HKMA Eddie Yue.

Suzhou, a city in eastern China, will launch its second digital RMB gift money distribution of RMB 30 million yuan on February 5, each amounting to RMB 200, for a total of 150,000 gift money packages.

A coffee shop in Beijing has begun accepting payments in Digital RMB, the first test of the digital currency application scenario in the Chinese capital.

A total of 100,000 gift money in the form of a so-called "Red Envelop" of RMB 200 each will be available to all eligible Suzhou residents starting at 20:00 on December 11.

China's Suzhou city will launch a pilot program of giving digital RMB gift money during the December 12 shopping festival, an upgrade from Shenzhen.