Chinese national digital currency has been used to facilitate transactions in the country’s futures market for the first time, official media revealed. The commodities exchange in Dalian has utilized the digital yuan for the payment of storage fees with help from major banks.
Dalian Commodity Exchange Uses Digital Yuan in Futures Transaction
China’s digital yuan (e-CNY) has debuted in the domestic futures market, the state-run Xinhua news agency announced, quoting the China Securities Journal on Tuesday. The commodity exchange in Northeast China’s financial center, Dalian, and two major banks took part in the trial.
The central bank digital currency (CBDC) has been used by the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) for the payment of storage fees to a delivery warehouse. The local branches of Bank of Communications and Bank of China supported the transaction. Citing sources from the financial institutions, the report detailed:
The application of e-CNY in the futures market provided an efficient, zero-cost and safe payment alternative for futures exchanges and market participants through real-time inter-bank payment.
A digital yuan payment has no transaction fees and “is not restricted to the operation period of the high-value payment system,” noted Jiang Bin, manager of the delivery warehouse. In addition to these features, the digital yuan would also bring convenience to Chinese enterprises by showing real-time transaction progress.