As part of its work on central bank digital currency (CBDC), China has always aimed to be inclusive. Hence, it wants the digital RMB to be usable by people who either don’t use smartphones or have unreliable internet connectivity. That includes the elderly and tourists who may not want to use the eCNY smartphone wallet.
In 2021 it launched digital hardware wallets which look like prepaid debit cards. Now the central bank’s Digital Currency Research Institute has unveiled an upgraded version of the cards with improved usability.
The 2021 iteration below included buttons so that users could enter the payment amount and the e-ink visual display was small. E-ink is the same technology used in Amazon Kindle readers.
Earlier this year, the central bank released new tourist friendly cards (below).
The latest cards are described as touchable, visual and scannable. They’re touchable because users can simply touch the cards against a point of sale device for payment, in the same way as you would any other payment card, using Near Field Communications (NFC) technology.
They’re visual because the same area showing the QR code (top picture) updates to display the amount paid and the card balance. Notably, the textual description of ‘Payment’ and ‘Balance’ are in both English and Mandarin to help tourists.
Plus, the cards are scannable by a merchant using the dynamic QR code. That means the card works for smaller merchants that don’t have to have a terminal that supports NFC, such as street vendors using their mobile phones.
So far there are seven visual design options for the card.
Other digital RMB news
In related news, the eCNY has been embedded into Huawei’s mobile operating system. It’s one thing having government influence over an app, but involvement with the operating system will raise further privacy concerns. Plus, the international aviation association IATA plans to integrate the digital renminbi into its settlement system to support travel agents who want to pay airlines.
Statistics revealed last month show that so far one in eight Chinese people has a digital RMB wallet.
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