Singapore’s DBS Bank Adds Support for China’s e-CNY
DBS Bank, the largest Singaporean bank, has enabled customers to receive payments in the Chinese Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or digital yuan (e-CNY).
Through the bank’s new platform, merchants are now able to transfer amounts in e-CNY to customers’ bank accounts.
According to the bank, at least one customer has already taken advantage of this option.
In February 2021, DBS Bank announced its plans to apply for a license to provide cryptocurrency services in Hong Kong, and it already has regulatory approval for crypto services in Singapore, where the bank launched DDEx, a crypto-trading platform for institutional investors.
The bank is currently conducting a pilot project with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to explore the potential of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) for wholesale financing.
In China, the authorities are striving to popularize the digital yuan. During the New Year’s week, Chinese municipalities distributed about 180 million e-CNY (around $26.5 million) in the form of subsidies and coupons.
As of the end of 2022 – which was when the People’s Bank of China accounted for CBDC in the monetary base – there was approximately 13.62 billion e-CNY (about $2 billion).
