In brief: Digital yuan to pay on the metro

China is definitely ahead of the game in deploying its MNBC. Its digital yuan (e-CNY) is now accepted as a means of payment to access the public transport network in the city of Ningbo. This is another step towards its democratisation.

The Digital Yuan is now accepted as a means of payment in the 125 metro stations in Ningbo, in the Chinese province of Zhejiang.

The city, which has a population of around 9.5 million, is a technology-oriented city and is currently expanding its already busy transport network.

Users of this network will now be able to use the "Ningbo Metro" application to pay for their transport tickets in digital Yuan. They will need to link their application to their digital Yuan wallet held at one of the six major banks participating in the democratisation of digital Yuan (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications and Postal Savings Bank). Once set up, scanning a simple QR code via the "Ningbo Metro" application will validate a purchase and lead to an automatic debit in digital Yuan.

This initiative, still in the pilot phase, is not a first in the country as Ningbo is the ninth Chinese city to open its application to digital Yuan.