Yesterday the Chinese press reported the rollout of the digital RMB smart student ID card at the Hainan Lu Xun Middle School. This is the latest application of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan or eCNY. In January, the digital currency was widely used during the Winter Olympics, and recently pilots were extended to additional regions.
In reality the solution is a mobile SIM card rather than a payment card. Smartphones are banned from lower and middle schools in China, so the ID card is a mobile SIM in a feature phone with multiple functions beyond payments. It was developed by China’s biggest bank, ICBC, in conjunction with China Mobile.
The phone supports NFC for payments and identity and GPS to enable the child’s location to be tracked. Additionally, up to three family numbers can be programmed for speed dialing.
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