CHINESE CENTRAL BANK LAUNCHES SIM CARD-BASED OFFLINE CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY WALLET

The Chinese central bank has launched an offline SIM card-based digital yuan “hard” wallet solution that allows users pay with the central bank digital currency (CBDC) with powered-down phones.

 

The central People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has updated its app to allow Android phone users to use their SIM cards as “hard” (offline) CBDC wallets.

 

According to PBoC partner firms, launch of this new function will greatly expand the scope of the use of the digital yuan’s power and network-free payment functions.

 

Citizens will need to obtain a “super SIM card” from their carriers in order to make use of the new innovation.

 

After replacing their existing SIM cards with a “super SIM,” they will need to launch the digital yuan app on their phones, where they can find an option to “open a SIM card hard wallet.”

 

This will allow them to use their devices to make “touch” payments to merchants when their devices are off or have no network connection.