The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced that it has added eight banks to its list of authorized institutions for digital yuan ;operations, bringing the number of operating institutions for digital yuan business to 30.
As reported by the local outlet China Daily on August 18, the PBOC said the expansion aimed to improve the inclusiveness of digital yuan services and meet public demand for secure, convenient, and efficient digital yuan operations.
The newly added operators to be linked to the central bank’s digital yuan system include Ping An Bank, Hengfeng Bank, China Bohai Bank, Bank of Shanghai, Bank of Hangzhou, Huishang Bank, Bank of Changsha, and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Bank.
These new operators will begin offering digital yuan services once operational and technical preparations are complete, with no specific date or timeline provided, according to the report.
Doubling down on digital yuan
The digital yuan, or e-CNY, was launched in 2019 by the PBOC and swiftly became one of the most advanced and widespread central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the world. As of November 2025, the government had processed more than 3.4 billion transactions worth nearly 16.7 trillion yuan ($2.38 trillion).
Despite these impressive numbers, when compared to WeChat Pay, one of the two leading Chinese payment platforms alongside AliPay, which processed $15.4 trillion in transactions in 2024 alone, it becomes clear that adoption of the digital yuan fell short of what Beijing had hoped. For this reason, the government has introduced various measures to support its rollout.
In September 2025, the PBOC launched its e-CNY International Operation Center in Shanghai, introducing the e-CNY Cross-Border Digital Payment Platform in hopes of boosting the digital yuan’s global reach.
In a bid to further promote its use, in March of this year, the country approved 12 banks to handle the digital yuan, including Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, China Everbright Bank, and Bank of Ningbo, according to a Reuters report from the time, citing “three people with knowledge of the plans.”
The 12 new names supplemented the 10 already authorized and brought the total number to 22. As of August 17, 2026, this number is now 30.
Meanwhile, in June, China signaled it was advancing the CBDC, with 26 financial institutions in Shanghai signing direct participant agreements for the e-CNY cross-border payment platform.
Can China have its cake and eat it with CBDC and stablecoins?
Crypto-related business activities and stablecoins are currently banned in Mainland China and thus do not pose domestic competition for the digital yuan, with its main domestic competition being cash payments, commercial bank payments, and, in particular, Alipay and WeChat Pay.
However, internationally, the booming stablecoin space—98% of which is U.S. dollar-denominated—could pose a strategic challenge to the internationalization and adoption of the digital yuan. This is perhaps one reason why Hong Kong has been increasingly pitching itself as a digital asset-supportive hub.
In January, Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po, revealed that the special administrative region was preparing to issue its first batch of licenses to stablecoin providers, following the introduction of the “Stablecoin Ordinance” in December 2024, which provided a supervisory and licensing regime for stablecoin providers.
At the same time, Hong Kong is facilitating cross-border use of the digital yuan, suggesting that Beijing and Hong Kong may see stablecoins and CBDCs as complementary technologies serving different use cases rather than mutually exclusive alternatives, with Beijing pushing the digital yuan and Hong Kong stablecoins.
Watch: CBDC applications beyond digital money
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