By
Tokoni Uti
February 29th, 2024
To aid adoption, the government has also been rolling out incentives in different provinces, including reduced ticketing costs and shopping prices when paying with the e-CNY.
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has unveiled its plans to use e-CNY smart contracts to improve primary education. According to Sohu.com, local education and financial authorities will partner together. The regulatory authorities will allow Chengdu parents to pay for their children’s extra lessons with the e-CNY. The choice of Chengdu is obvious given the city is the national pilot city for the double reduction work.
How the e-CNY Smart Contracts for Education will work
The state-owned bank is preparing a pilot test of the project to explore the potential benefits of the e-CNY smart contracts in education. Consequently, the pilot test will see parents pay lesson fees into the coffers of private educational institutions. Further, each lesson will be on a pro-rata basis. As a result of the smart contract, parents will be eligible for a refund when their children miss a lesson.
According to the PBoC, it hopes the e-CNY smart contracts can replace regulatory authorities between parents and private education entities. “Another is improving transactions’ liquidity via zero transaction fees embedded in the e-CNY design,” it noted.
Growth by Strategy
Indeed, the last few months have seen tremendous growth in the use cases of the digital renminbi. After the successful trial of the CBDC at the Beijing Olympics, the country’s strategy to digitize the economy has sparked growth in asset adoption.
By May 31, Chinese consumers had performed 264 million transactions involving the e-CNY. This amounts to a total of about $12.35 billion since the turn of the year. According to a Forbes report, an estimated 4.5 million merchants across China now accept the e-CNY for payment. Chief of monetary policy at PBoC, Lan Zhou, noted the e-CNY has helped improve quality of life and stimulate consumption.
Further, he said, “The e-CNY has demonstrated to be an invaluable tool in ensuring steady economic development through its functions such as smart contract utility.”
To aid adoption, the government has also been rolling out incentives in different provinces, including reduced ticketing costs and shopping prices when paying with the e-CNY. The trialing of the e-CNY smart contracts for education is the latest move to drive the adoption of the currency.
