China to enhance digital yuan management with deposit features starting 2026

BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced on Monday that an upgraded framework for digital yuan management will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, moving the e-CNY beyond a cash-like instrument toward a form of digital deposit money.

The enhanced system will feature a new measurement framework, management system, operational mechanisms and ecosystem for the digital yuan, the central bank said.

The transition builds upon extensive domestic and cross-border trials that have seen the digital yuan adopted across a wide range of daily uses. These include retail transactions, dining, tourism, education, healthcare, public services, and cross-border settlements, establishing a reliable and scalable model for digital currency in both online and offline scenarios.

Guided by a decade of pilot program experience, the PBOC has unveiled an action plan to strengthen the digital yuan's management system and supporting financial infrastructure. The plan establishes the operational basis for classifying digital yuan held in commercial bank wallets as bank deposit liabilities.

Under the plan, commercial banks will be required to pay interest on digital yuan wallet balances in accordance with prevailing deposit rate regulations. These balances will be integrated into banks' regular asset-liability management practices and will be protected by deposit insurance, just like ordinary bank deposits.

The PBOC will incorporate digital yuan operations into its reserve requirement framework. Wallet balances held with authorized commercial banks will be counted toward the reserve requirement calculation base, while non-bank payment institutions must deposit 100 percent reserves against the digital yuan they manage.

As of the end of November 2025, China had recorded 3.48 billion cumulative digital yuan transactions worth 16.7 trillion yuan (approximately 2.37 trillion U.S. dollars).