Around 100 countries are now exploring the potential development and issuance of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), and the challenges and opportunities identified by these research projects reveal a need for “increased international information-sharing of insights learned”, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report... More
China
China’s JD.com lets consumers make online payments from digital yuan hard wallets using NFC
Chinese consumers can now make online payments for purchases from the JD.com ecommerce app using digital yuan stored on a physical card or hard wallet via their Android NFC smartphone... More
China to let visiting athletes and spectators use digital yuan at Beijing Winter Olympics
Overseas athletes and spectators visiting the Beijing Winter Olympics will be among the first foreign nationals to be able to trial China’s digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) at event venues, nearby merchants and inside the Olympic Village... More
Chinese researchers create highly flexible NFC circuits using transparent film based on calligraphy paper
Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei have developed a pliable high-strength transparent film and demonstrated how it can be used to create NFC circuits that can still be read even after being folded or bent and could be integrated into flexible electronic and optical devices... More
Apple reports on mobile payments and ticketing adoption
Apple Pay is now available in 60 countries and regions worldwide, with support from nearly 9,000 partner banks, following the service’s expansion to nine new markets — including Colombia, Israel and Mexico — during 2021, Apple reports... More
China launches digital currency app for Android and Apple users in 10 cities
Android and Apple users in 10 Chinese cities can now download a pilot version of the country’s digital yuan wallet app directly from the iOS and Android app stores that enables them to acquire, store and use China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
Huawei launches NFC and Bluetooth digital keys for electric smart car
Drivers taking possession of Huawei’s new AITO M5 electric smart car will be able to lock, unlock and start their vehicle using NFC and Bluetooth-enabled digital car keys... More
More than half of Asia Pacific consumers make digital payments at least once a week
Nine in 10 consumers in the Asia Pacific region have used mobile payment apps at least once during the past 12 months, while more than half have used digital payment methods at least once a week and a sixth have made a digital payment for the first time since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic (15%), according to research published by Kaspersky... More
More than 67m contactless POS terminals shipped in 2020
Annual shipments of NFC-ready POS terminals reached 67.2m units globally in 2020, bringing the total number to 140.5m or 68% of all POS terminals worldwide, according to Berg Insight... More
Number of digital yuan wallets issued in China reaches 140m
The total number of personal and corporate digital yuan wallets issued in China has risen from 24.5m in July to 140m as of October, an increase of nearly 600%, the People’s Bank of China’s Mu Changchun has revealed... More
Digital wallet transaction volumes to top US$10tn globally by 2025
The global transaction volume of in-store and ecommerce digital wallet payments will exceed US$10tn by 2025, according to a forecast commissioned by Discover Global Network... More
China puts pressure on McDonald’s, Visa and Nike to accept digital yuan
The Chinese government is reportedly putting pressure on US-based companies including McDonald’s, Visa and Nike to accept payments in digital yuan before the start of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics... More
Beijing offers public transport users discounts to encourage digital yuan fare payments
Passengers on bus, subway and suburban rail services in the Chinese capital Beijing can now receive a discount and pay as little as 0.01 yuan for their journey if they use the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) to pay their fares from a digital yuan mobile wallet issued by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China... More
Chinese bike hire service to let customers use an NFC digital currency wallet to pay for their ride
Chinese e-commerce platform Meituan is to enable customers of its bicycle hire service to pay for their rides with the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) while offline using an NFC-enabled digital yuan hard wallet... More
Shanghai to let residents use digital health code to pay public transport fares
Residents of the Chinese city of Shanghai will soon be able to scan their Suishenma digital ID and health QR code to pay for their fares on buses, ferries and metro services, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government has announced... More
Unspent stored value on Starbucks prepaid cards nears US$1.63bn
Starbucks customers have accumulated a total unspent balance of US$1.628bn on the company’s prepaid physical and digital reward and gift cards, the coffee giant’s 2021 Q3 earnings call has revealed... More
People’s Bank of China issues digital yuan trial progress report
Nearly 21m (20.87m) personal and 3.51m corporate digital yuan wallets have so far been issued during China’s ongoing trials of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has revealed... More
China to launch digital yuan nationwide after 2022 Winter Olympics?
China could be ready to officially launch the digital yuan as a fully operational central bank digital currency (CBDC) after the Beijing Winter Olympics in early 2022, according to reports in the Chinese media... More
Beijing Rail Transit lets passengers pay their fares with digital yuan
Passengers on 24 subway lines and four suburban rail services in the Chinese capital of Beijing can now use the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) to make contactless payments for their fares from a digital yuan mobile wallet issued by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China... More
Beijing banks add support for digital yuan at 3,000 ATMs
Customers of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the Agricultural Bank of China can now exchange cash for digital yuan and vice versa at more than 3,000 ATMs across Beijing, China, according to a report by the Xinhua news agency... More