[9][2] In 2016, Fan Yifei, a deputy governor of the PBOC, wrote that "the conditions are ripe for digital currencies, which can reduce operating costs, increase efficiency and enable a wide range of new applications".

[12] Chinese technology firms such as Alibaba (through its affiliate Ant Group), Tencent (which owns WeChat), Huawei, JD.com and UnionPay were invited to cooperate with the central bank in developing and testing digital RMB.

[9][12] Areas of testing include the currency's reliability, stability, ease of use, and regulatory concerns such as the prevention of money laundering, tax evasion and terror financing.

[20] At the end of 2021, there were 261 million users in the extended trial who had made US$13.8 billion of transactions [21] It has also been rolled out for foreign attendees at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where it has seen limited use due to entrenched digital currencies and Visa, as well as lack of publicity.

[22] On March 31, 2022, People's Bank of China announced that the testing has been further expanded to six additional regions: Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and six cities in the province of Zhejiang that are hosting the 2022 Asian Games (Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing, and Jinhua).

[25] From May 2023, Changshu in the province of Jiangsu started to rollout salary payments in e-CNY for government employees as well as staff at stated-owned companies and public institutions.

[27] In October 2023, digital yuan was first used in the cross-border crude oil settlement by PetroChina, the listed arm of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

[28][29] An e-CNY wallet, which serves as a tool to store digital renminbi and make transactions, possesses four distinct specifications as revealed by the central bank of China.

[30] The PBOC has stated that the goal of launching digital RMB is to partially replace cash, but not bank deposits or privately run payment platforms.

[9] The bank claimed that digital RMB could be used to reduce money laundering, gambling, corruption and terror financing, and may improve the efficiency of financial transactions.

[7] The digital RMB could provide a cheaper and more practical alternative to international transactions that are outside the U.S.-led global financial system, especially for countries with strong ties to China.

[38] Some commentators have said that the U.S., which has only started to consider to issue a government-backed digital currency, risks falling behind China and weakening its dominance in the global financial system.