China reportedly finalized the official release regarding the next round of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) trial phase program. 

Specifically, the latest development in the city of Guanzhou will make it available for payment of public bus rides on 10 transit routes settled via the use of digital yuan (e-CNY) CBDC – a new milestone for the nation. 

In order to tap into the new payment feature, passengers will reportedly only have to download the e-CNY app, deposit funds and scan the QR code located in the bus payment section to pay for their ride. 

In the same manner, the day prior, the city of Ningbo reportedly claimed that passengers will now have the ability to pay for subway rides at 125 stations using e-CNY. 

Ningbo is the ninth city in China to introduce the e-CNY trial phase in its subway lines, where passengers can simply scan and pay for the journey. 

The Chinese authority has carried out the rapid expansion regarding the utility of the e-CNY in 2022. Just last week, supporting functionalities to pay for employee housing fund contributions in the city of Guangzhou with the CBDC were rolled out. 

In a revitalizing attempt towards consumer spending caused by strict coronavirus lockdowns, the authority teamed up with food-delivery heavyweight Meituan and e-commerce platform JD.com to create e-CNY air-drops that can be spent at listed venues.

As revealed via its most recent insight update dated June 20th, more than 6 million unique users had had Meituan-based, e-CNY-enabled services. 

Meanwhile, as of July, JD.com said that it had processed over 4 million e-commerce transactions with an estimated value equivalent to 900 million CNY ($131.6 million) since it began accepting the e-CNY as tender. Approximately 830 billion ($121.4 billion) worth of e-CNY transactions were recorded in the first five months of 2022.