This is the first time the e-commerce giant is accepting e-CNY, the Chinese digital currency, on its platform.

Singles Day is the biggest shopping event in the world, and the move by JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) to accept the e-CNY as payment for purchases on its platform shows how advanced China’s trialling of its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is. Clearly the authorities want to test out the e-CNY in a large-scale transaction environment. (CNBC)

According to JD, over 100K people used the e-CNY on its app during the Singles Day event, which began on October 31 and ends on Thursday. Notably, the e-CNY has not been officially rolled out – instead the authorities are still testing it at various locations and through different organizations.

On the JD app, users can receive instructions on how to download the e-CNY app by typing “e-CNY.” Upon downloading a user automatically receives an amount of 15 yuan (about $2.34) which they can spend, including on JD’s platform.

The e-CNY is a digital version of the Chinese currency, and is not a cryptocurrency. It will replace physical currency once it is rolled out nationwide.

Meanwhile, JD.com reported a record-breaking Singles Day Grand Promotion on November 12, 2021, with transaction volume totaling RMB 349.1 billion yuan at the midnight of November 11, which marked the end of the 11-day promotion.

A total of 31 brands surpassed transaction volume of RMB 1 billion yuan while Apple surpassed RMB 10 billion yuan.

Earlier this week, the People’s Bank of China governor Yi Gang said that China will continue to advance the development of its central bank digital currency and improve its design and usage.

Yi also confirmed that China will improve e-CNY’s privacy protection and anti-counterfeiting feature and increase its interoperability with existing payments tools.

Related Story: Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are picking up global momentum.