The Beijing International Big Data Exchange completed Beijing’s first data trade settled in e-CNY, selling a 40GB labelled image dataset for AI training, with payment released in real time once delivery was verified, according to the city’s state assets regulator. In Shanghai, China Construction Bank’s Shanghai branch and the city’s housing provident fund centre launched e-CNY housing fund payments on October 15, completing the city’s first corporate e-CNY contribution and opening two-way flows for employer contributions and individual withdrawals.
Why it matters: Both deals use e-CNY for corporate and government payments rather than retail QR spending, the direction the PBOC signalled with its new smart contract framework this week. Tying payment to verified data delivery is an early example of the “conditional money” use case that could set e-CNY apart from Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Source: 新京报 The Beijing News and 新浪财经 Sina Finance, October 22, 2026 (Chinese-language sources, translated)
Related: PBOC upgrades e-CNY infrastructure with central bank system and smart contract framework
Image: N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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