China’s central bank is planning to create a dedicated national clearinghouse for processing digital yuan transactions, a move that would give the e-CNY the same kind of institutional plumbing that credit cards and traditional payments have relied on for decades.
The People’s Bank of China disclosed the plan on May 30, modeling the proposed clearinghouse after China UnionPay, the state-backed card network that processes virtually every domestic bank card transaction in the country.
From pilot to pipeline
Cumulative e-CNY transactions reached 16.7 trillion yuan, roughly $2.47 trillion, by November 2025. That’s a staggering sum for a currency that only started pilot testing in 2019.
In early 2026, the central bank authorized twelve additional banks to handle e-CNY transactions, bringing the total number of participating institutions to 22.
