PILOT scenario construction for using China’s digital fiat currency, or the e-CNY, during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics has entered a final sprint as part of the country’s efforts to promote the new payment form.

All construction of the digital yuan payment scenarios was completed in the offices of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, said the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank.

Payment scenarios are all in place for venues in the Zhangjiakou competition zone in Hebei Province. Other venues in Zhangjiakou have seen contracts for payment scenarios signed or related arrangements with merchants made.

Consumers can use the e-CNY either through wallet apps installed on their mobile phones or via physical wallets in the forms of cards and wearables such as smart watches and ski gloves or badges to meet their diversified needs.

Users can easily obtain or open digital yuan wallets at branches of the Bank of China, self-service machines, and some hotels during the upcoming Olympics.

The e-CNY is the digital version of fiat currency issued by the PBOC and operated by authorized operators. The e-CNY system aims to create a new form of RMB that meets the public demand for cash in the digital economy era.

“China is now seeing wide-ranging retail sales scenarios for the digital yuan,” said Che Ning, a researcher at the China University of Political Science and Law.

In addition to government and public service payment projects, digital yuan payments also quickly cover a variety of commercial scenarios, Che added.(Xinhua)