JD.com and Bank of China Explore Cross-border Digital Yuan (e-CNY) Consumption

By 0xGorki 03/8/23 12:28 AM

On March 6, CICC Online reported that Ms. Chen, from the Kowloon City district of Hong Kong, expressed her satisfaction with her first-time digital RMB shopping experience, saying that “the experience of using digital RMB to buy Beijing roast duck on JD Global Sale is great. I received the goods so quickly! With a recommendation from a friend, I also received a digital RMB red envelope worth HKD100 from Bank of China (Hong Kong) and had a super cost-effective shopping experience on JD.”

The positive feedback from China Bank’s and Bank of China (Hong Kong)’s digital RMB whitelist users, which began in late 2022, led to the formal launch of the second phase of the digital RMB priority experience activity in Hong Kong on March 2. Ms. Chen became a whitelist user by registering for the digital RMB priority experience activity. The activity was supported by JD Technology, which provided technical support and was a new attempt and exploration in the field of digital RMB cross-border consumption. JD Technology also became the first technology company in mainland China to support Hong Kong’s digital RMB cross-border consumption.

As the pilot scope of digital RMB gradually expands, it has been launched in 26 regions across 17 provinces and cities in China. However, the digital RMB app has not yet opened user registration services in Hong Kong, and the digital RMB wallet has not opened an account opening function in Hong Kong. Customers can only register as a digital RMB app user and open a Bank of China (Hong Kong) digital RMB wallet after successfully registering for the digital RMB priority experience activity in Hong Kong.

With the broad prospects of the cross-border consumption market, JD Technology has accumulated expertise in supporting governments to issue digital RMB through “supply chain + scene + technology” and has innovated a new mode of digital RMB cross-border consumption. It fully supported the Bank of China’s promotion of digital RMB red envelopes in Hong Kong.

During the activity, Hong Kong users who participated in the activity and completed the digital RMB app registration and Bank of China wallet opening could receive four red envelopes worth RMB 100, with a discount of RMB 25 for each consumption, which could be used for specified goods on JD Global Sale.

Since the full resumption of personnel exchange between mainland China and Hong Kong and Macau in early February 2023, mainland residents and Hong Kong and Macau tourist groups have also resumed operation. The gradually opening of the prevention and control situation and the cross-border consumption policies introduced have injected strong momentum into both the domestic demand and foreign trade ends. Industry insiders predict that the cross-border payment market will see a significant increase in 2023, with a scale of up to RMB 1,687.572 billion. With its smarter payment advantages, digital RMB has a very large development space in the field of cross-border consumption.

Since 2020, JD Technology has been vigorously promoting digital RMB pilot work and has initiated cooperation with seven major banks such as ICBC, ABC, BOC, CCB, China Post, CMB, and CEB. It has conducted innovative pilot programs in the fields of “digital RMB + social public welfare/city consumption vouchers/supply chain finance,” leading the development trend of the “digital RMB +” industry. Data shows that as of December 2022, JD Technology has provided digital RMB payment services to nearly 2 million users, with a total transaction volume of more than RMB 2 billion.