China has tripled the number of banks participating in its digital yuan network this year, expanding the roster of authorized operators to 30 lenders, up from 10 at the beginning of the year.

The central bank added eight new lenders this week, including Ping An Bank, Hengfeng Bank, Bank of Shanghai, and Bank of Hangzhou, according to CoinDesk. The newly connected banks have linked to the central e-CNY system but will begin offering services only after completing operational and technical preparations.

This week's move marks the second expansion of the operator roster this year. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) added 12 institutions in April, raising the total to 22 before the latest eight additions. Together, the two rounds have brought 20 new operators into the system year to date, drawing in mid-sized commercial lenders beyond the large state-owned banks that anchored the early pilots.

The e-CNY is the digital form of China's fiat currency, the renminbi, and is one of the most advanced central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects in the world, having been piloted by the PBOC since 2019 before being showcased at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. That head start stands out globally: more than 130 countries are exploring central bank digital currencies, according to the Atlantic Council's CBDC tracker, though only a handful—including the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Nigeria—have fully launched one, while other major central banks, such as the European Central Bank, remain in earlier study or pilot phases. Under China's two-tier design, described in the PBOC's 2021 whitepaper, the central bank issues and redeems the digital currency and manages its core system, while authorized operators provide the customer-facing layer. Authorized banks allow customers to open personal and corporate wallets, exchange digital yuan, and process payments, as well as carry out anti-money laundering checks.

The expansion follows a broader overhaul of the e-CNY framework that took effect on Jan. 1. Under the new rules, digital yuan held in commercial bank wallets became deposit liabilities, with banks required to pay interest on balances, which are now covered by deposit insurance.

Adoption data underscores the growing scale of the network. China processed 3.48 billion digital yuan transactions worth 16.7 trillion yuan (around $2.5 trillion) through November 2025. The PBOC has also tested the currency's cross-border use, including a pilot that lets Hong Kong residents open personal e-CNY wallets, and participates in Project mBridge, which explores cross-border multi-CBDC settlement together with the central banks of Hong Kong, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. The PBOC said it will continue adding operators under market-oriented and rule-based principles.