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As reported by local news outlet Sohu, on Wednesday, the Agricultural Commerce Bank of Zhangjiagang, located in China’s Suzhou province, announced that it had issued a 500,000 digital yuan (e-CNY) loan with intellectual property backing it as collateral. The loan was issued via unanimous approval by the city’s consumer markets regulator, financial markets regulator and municipal officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unnamed in the report, the recipient of the loan is an entity manufacturing environmental protection equipment for steel factories in Suzhou province. As told<\/a> by the entity, due to an uptick in the number of client invoices, it decided to experiment with the new borrowing method, where the loan was directly released into its e-CNY digital wallet. Meanwhile, the Agricultural Commerce Bank of Zhangjiagang said this was yet another experiment in the country’s e-CNY trial program<\/a>.<\/p>\n Two days prior, the People’s Bank of China said<\/a>\u00a0it wants to expand further the number of e-CNY testing sites, which are currently in 15 provinces. In its most recent data update on May 31, the central bank tallied 264 million e-CNY transactions totaling 83 billion CNY ($12.29 billion) since inception. Over 4.567 million merchant terminals across China accept e-CNY as payment.<\/p>\n Related: More than 2.6 million users signed up for the City of Shenzhen’s digital yuan airdrop<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Additionally, 64 companies with a total market cap of 560 billion CNY ($82.9 billion) listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges are exploring blockchain technology. In recent months, China has seemingly increased its focus on developing its central bank digital currency<\/a>, citing the benefits of stimulating consumer spending after COVID-19 lockdowns had hampered the economy. Various e-CNY airdrops are currently ongoing for participants to claim rewards and use them at various merchant platforms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n