Jinan Adopts Digital Yuan for Transit Fares

Officials in the Chinese city of Jinan implemented the option to pay fares with digital yuan on all bus routes and launched a program to incentivize the use of CBDC. Local media reported this СМИ.

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Initially, the public-transport operator of the provincial capital of Shandong conducted a pilot test of using e-CNY on two bus lines.

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From July 1, the option was rolled out to all city-wide routes. To use it, residents need to open a digital wallet or update their payment cards.

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The city is encouraging residents who choose to pay with CBDC. They are eligible for discounted trips at one fen — one-hundredth of a yuan. The limit is two tickets per day and no more than six per month, with the full fare not exceeding two yuan ($0.28).

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In February, Global Times journalists calculated that authorities in many Chinese cities distributed 180 million e-CNY (~$26.5 million) during the Chinese New Year as subsidies and coupons for stimulating the use of digital currency.

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At the end of 2022 the НБК included CBDC in the monetary base. At that time there were 13.62 billion e-CNY in circulation (~$2 billion), equivalent to about 0.13% of the total figure.

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Earlier, Se Ping, the former director of research at the НБК, described interest in the digital yuan as low. He said that the total value of e-CNY transactions over two years amounted to just over 100 billion yuan ($14 billion), which he described as \”not ideal\”.