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The article examines China’s economic and geopolitical motivations for strengthening the role of its national currency in the global financial system and developing alternative channels for international settlements. For over 10+ years, the digital yuan (e-CNY) has been a key element of China’s long-term strategy to modernize its national fi nancial system and strengthen its currency sovereignty. In global practice, this project stands out for its scale, technological complexity, and clear integration into the country’s foreign economic policy. The development and implementation of the e-CNY demonstrate China’s commitment to building a new financial and technological ecosystem. This represents the creation of a fundamentally new instrument capable of combining the functions of a payment instrument, a smart contract carrier, an integrator of smart devices, and a cross-border payment channel. In the long term, this kind of comprehensiveness could provide the digital yuan with a sustainable competitive advantage both domestically and in international settlements. The international strategy for developing the digital yuan e-CNY is directly linked to the objectives of strengthening China’s position in the global fi nancial system and diversifying payment mechanisms regardless of the dominance of the US dollar. A very promising direction is the integration of the e-CNY with the Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure. Strategically, China will continue to strive forward the alternative international settlement channels, where the e-CNY will play a key role alongside other central bank digital currencies. This scenario will potentially reduce the role of SWIFT and significantly reinforce multipolarity in the global financial system.