At the digital RMB annual meeting of the 2026 Financial Street Forum in Beijing on October 21, PBOC deputy governor Lu Lei announced a full upgrade of the e-CNY infrastructure. The Digital RMB Operation Management Center launched a central-bank-side e-CNY system (DCEPS) and an e-CNY smart contract ecosystem framework. By the end of September, e-CNY had handled 4.3 billion transactions worth about 31 trillion yuan, and September alone saw 99.67 million transactions worth about 1.87 trillion yuan, up 12% and 123% year on year.
Why it matters: The new system gives the 30 e-CNY operating institutions and 121 system participants a single connection point that runs around the clock, cutting integration costs. The smart contract framework targets “conditional money” such as prepaid-fund supervision, subsidies and supply-chain finance, the use cases most likely to drive adoption beyond everyday QR payments.
Source: 新华网 Xinhua and 央视财经 CCTV Finance, October 22, 2026 (Chinese-language sources, translated)
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