in universities China say they are adopting digital yuanand is looking into ways to allow students to use the country’s central bank digital currency (cbdc) lives in “every” aspect of their campus.
In an interview with Chinese media outlet stockstarOne of the firms at the center of the adoption campaign said it was targeting a “full” range of CBDC campus applications.
The comment comes from Zhejiang Zhengyuan Zhihui Technology, a firm listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
The firm said it had deployed its digital yuan payment solution “in a number of universities” in the pilot zone.
These include Soochow University (Suzhou), also known as Suzhou University, in southern Jiangsu province.
The company said “all” of Soochow University’s campus buildings had been updated to process digital yuan payments.
Some card readers were previously only compatible with university-issued “campus cards” and UnionPay payments.
The firm said Soochow University (Suzhou) has become “the first full-scenario digital yuan university in China”.
This means that students can pay for rides on university-run transport, such as buses.
They can also use their CBDC wallet as an ID card by using the QR-type code in the “five major banks” digital wallet to mark their attendance in classes.
Students can also scan their wallets to pass through automated turnstiles, doing away with smartcards and facial recognition software.
The company said its solution is being rolled out in “parks” as well.
The digital yuan wallet solution is also being used in “enterprises” where they can replace employee smartcards.
Can Universities Lead China’s CBDC Adoption Drive?
The company said its solution was being used as a “benchmark” for CBDC adoption in “the education industry in Jiangsu province.”
Universities in China often have small, relatively closed economic ecosystems.
These usually include canteens, stores and printing facilities owned by the school.
As such, universities have often been used during pilots to experiment with new digital yuan payment options.
In 2021, the first digital yuan hard wallet Tested at the Tongren Hospital staff canteen of the Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in Shanghai,
Late last year, the Fuzhou University of International Studies and Trade became the first Chinese entity to conduct digital yuan-powered land transactions.
university Paid around $7.14 million to buy a plot of land,