China launches digital yuan ATMs in tropical Sanya, allowing tourists to exchange foreign cash for e-CNY
- The foreign exchange machines accept 20 different currencies for a physical card loaded with digital yuan to be used at designated merchants
- Sanya is a popular destination for tourists, who can have a hard time setting up Chinese mobile wallets that are now an essential feature of retail and dining
A new e-CNY foreign exchange machine is China’s latest bid to court tourists to its tropical southern vacation hotspot Sanya, on Hainan island, by allowing people to exchange 20 currencies for digital yuan, a move that could give visitors greater access to a ubiquitous local mobile payments ecosystem.
The machine, which looks similar to an automated teller machine (ATM), allows visitors to deposit currencies such as US dollars and euros to receive a physical card loaded with e-CNY that can be used to pay for goods at participating merchants with just a tap, according to a report on Sunday from the state-run newspaper Hainan Daily.
Travellers can return to the machines to top up, check their balance and see transaction records. The machines can currently be used in eight languages, including English, French, Japanese and Russian.
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The move meets tourists’ demands by giving them an option for digital payments for dining, accommodations, transport and shopping “without the need to open a bank account”, according to the report, which cited an employee of Bank of China (BOC), which developed the machine and is one of 11 banks authorised to handle e-CNY.
The e-CNY card now gives visitors an option for digital payments without downloading a separate app in the two cities where the machines are currently available.
The BOC first launched a similar foreign exchange machine in February at Yiwu International Trade City, a sprawling wholesale market in Yiwu, eastern Zhejiang province.
Both Zhejiang and Hainan, known for its tropical weather and sometimes called China’s Hawaii, have sought to become the window to the country for foreign tourists and merchants.
In 2018, Hainan adopted a visa-free policy for passport holders of 59 countries, a policy that was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. Zhejiang, known for its tech hub capital city Hangzhou, made the largest contribution to China’s export growth last year at 18.5 per cent.
The machine installations align with Beijing’s mission to develop and promote its sovereign digital currency. The project, officially known as the Digital Currency Electronic Payment, started trials in 2019 as China sought to give unbanked people greater access to digital finance, according to a 2021 report by the nation’s central bank.
More recently, China has undertaken efforts to internationalise the digital yuan. Advancing the e-CNY’s use at home and abroad, such as by facilitating yuan-denominated bilateral trade and investment, plays into the government’s goal of bypassing the existing global financial system that has been used to enforce sanctions against Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. Beijing also hopes to boost use of the yuan in trade settlement, which could come at the US dollar’s expense.
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