While Hong Kong residents can sign up for a digital yuan (e-CNY) wallet with a phone number, the CBDC is currently restricted to cross-border transactions and cannot be used for person-to-person transfers within Hong Kong.
Hong Kong launched a pilot program for the digital yuan, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) launch of the digital yuan, or e-CNY pilot, marks the first deployment of the CBDC outside of mainland China.
The pilot will enable Hong Kong residents to facilitate transactions from their e-CNY wallets, which can be topped off through 17 retail banks using the Faster Payment System (FPS) — marking the system’s first integration with a CBDC through a major central bank, according to a May 17 announcement by the HKMA.
