Bank of China trials offline payments for digital yuan via SIM cards

Bank of China, one of the biggest state-owned banks in China, is presently performing trials for an unique offline payment system that connects to SIM cards. This payment method is designed specifically for the digital yuan, likewise understood as the e-CNY, which is Chinas main bank digital currency (CBDC) presently being tested.This announcement was made by the bank on Monday in a social media post, revealing their collaboration with telecommunication operators China Telecom and China Unicom and their objective to begin testing on Tuesday.The bank plans to allow users to make phone payments by incorporating its e-CNY app with specialized “extremely SIM cards” that have near-field interaction capabilities. In January of last year, the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC), the nations main bank, released a trial version of an e-CNY app.