Digital yuan is now offered at Hong Kong's neighborhood stores as part of China's first trial program outside of the country, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said in a press release. The digital yuan, or e-CNY, is now participating in a cross-border payment trial program.

Residents of Hong Kong are now the only ones who may use e-CNY. With it, they can fill up digital wallets with up to 10,000 CNY (or about $1,385) from any of the city's 17 retail banks, including Standard Chartered Bank, ZA Bank, and DBS Bank.

The HKMA-published e-CNY user guide states that you may get the software via Google Play or the Apple software Store. According to the city's regulator, during the trial program, person-to-person transactions are not permitted using the e-CNY wallets; only cross-border payments are permitted.

In order to "gradually expand the applications of e-CNY, enrich the range of functionalities of the e-CNY wallet available to Hong Kong residents, and step up efforts in promoting the acceptance of e-CNY by more retail merchants in the two places," according to HKMA head Eddie Yue, Hong Kong will continue to maintain close ties with the People's Bank of China, China's central bank.

In the meanwhile, American lawmakers are attempting to prevent American financial service providers from doing business with China's virtual currency. The "Chinese CBDC Prohibition Act," filed by Senator Rick Scott in early November 2023, would forbid U.S. post offices, remittance companies, peer-to-peer crowdfunding platforms, and any other money services companies from enabling any transaction involving China's digital yuan.