1st LD-Writethru: China's central bank adds 8 banks as digital yuan operators

BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank announced on Monday that it has added eight banks to its list of authorized institutions for digital yuan operations, in a step to promote the steady development of the digital currency.

The move aims to improve the inclusiveness of digital yuan services, and meet public demand for secure, convenient and efficient digital yuan services, according to the People's Bank of China (PBOC).

The newly added operators, including Ping An Bank, Hengfeng Bank, China Bohai Bank, Bank of Shanghai, Bank of Hangzhou, Huishang Bank, Bank of Changsha, and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Bank, will be linked to the central bank's digital yuan system.

They will start offering digital yuan services after operational and technical preparations have been completed.

This expansion has brought the number of operating institutions for digital yuan business to 30.

"The newly added institutions, comprising joint-stock commercial banks and city commercial banks, will fill service gaps in regional small and medium-sized enterprise and cross-border trade within the existing operator network," said Dong Ximiao, chief researcher at Merchants Union Consumer Finance Company Limited.

The PBOC began research on digital currency in 2014, and pilot programs were first launched in late 2019. Since then, domestic and cross-border trials have seen the digital yuan adopted across a wide range of daily uses, including retail transactions, dining, tourism, education, healthcare, public services, and cross-border settlements that make life easier for foreign visitors.

In October 2025, the PBOC announced that it will support more commercial banks to become authorized operators of digital yuan services, ending a pause of more than two years since Industrial Bank became the 10th such operator in 2022.

In April 2026, the PBOC added 12 banks as new operators of digital yuan at one stroke, with city commercial banks joining the list for the first time.

The central bank said it will continue to expand the number of operators in order to build an open, inclusive and fair competition environment for the development of the digital yuan. Enditem