Recent reports revealed that the Bank of China continues its efforts to spread the consumption of its CBDC across borders. Currently, several shops and vendors have started receiving the CBDC from customers as payment settlement means, as per the reports.

According to the report, over 200 shops in Hong Kong have joined the list of vendors accepting the Chinese central bank digital currency CBDC as payment settlements. Some vendors have shops ranging from edibles, liquor, children and adult clothing brands, Hotels, supermarkets, pharmacies, jewelry outlets, beauty stores, etc.

Furthermore, many outlets and stores that serve the majority of Mainland Chinese tourists are also included in the list of those accepting digital yuan. It was also noted in the news that shoppers in Mainland China are entitled to discounts up to $14 whenever they spend their digital yuan assets on some specified vendors in Hong Kong. The promo was said to end by August 2023.

These and more are the result of the Chinese banks to boost the volume of cross-border payment settlement options they offer customers, according to the report. More so, Hong Kong and Macau reportedly remain their target currently as they hope to expand their project to other Chinese regions in the future.

Bank Of China Offers Discounts To Improve e-CNY Consumption

Interestingly, Macau and Hong Kong operate different economic currencies and systems. The Beijing government thinks this factor makes them suitable to test the tenacity and viability of the digital yuan (e-CNY) away from the mainland where it was issued from.

In addition, news reports showed that some Asian countries like South Korea, which have several tourist hotspots where Chinese tourists always flood, are currently discussing welcoming digital yuan payments.

The Bank of China, one of the biggest commercial banks run by the state in Mainland China, is reportedly in charge of the discount offer, and it co-runs the program with its Hong Kong branch. Furthermore, the discounts only apply to shopping made in Hong Kong and the coupons remain useful within 15 days after being redeemed.

Consumers from Mainland China only have to scan their digital yuan wallets’ QR codes at the outlets which support the payment method to activate the discount codes. However, consumers in Shenzhen, Guangdong, and Jiangsu can quickly get their coupons using the Bank of China mobile apps or from its local branches even before they go to Hong Kong to utilize it, as per the report.

China Focuses On Hong Kong For Wider CBDC Adoption

According to the report, the Bank of China’s Hong Kong branch boosted the adoption capabilities of e-CNY. It added that many merchants in Hong Kong are already improving their payment systems to ease cross-border customers’ access to digital yuan payment.

In addition, the ban revealed that Hong Kong stores usually welcome massive numbers of tourists between July and August. Hence, the bank expects the cross-border shopping festival, which would increase the number of shoppers in Hong Kong to boost digital yuan usage.

However, digital yuan can not be operated in Hong Kong yet as the area is not part of the official pilot of some of the CBDC. Hence, the bank urged consumers who wish to spend their e-CNY in the state to activate their wallets in one of the existing pilot zones before heading to Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, to start accepting the CBDC, Hong Kong merchants only need to install a simple software upgrade on their POS systems, according to the bank. Also, merchants who accept digital yuan have two settlement methods. The bank can pay them in fiat yuan or Hong Kong dollars.

During the week, Shenzhen, a city in Mainland China that is about 27 kilometers afar from Hong Kong city, stated that it had recorded about 36 million digital yuan wallets registration from the day it was launched to date. The Bank of China in Hong Kong commented that the number of CBDC wallets opened so far has been encouraging and believed more would come soon.