China’s Digital Yuan to Become Interest-Bearing Under New 2026 Framework

The Chinese central bank will allow commercial banks to pay interest on verified digital yuan wallet balances under a new framework taking effect on January 1, 2026. This move comes as authorities intensified regulatory enforcement on the crypto industry in late 2025, targeting Bitcoin mining activities and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. Interest Payments to Become Part of China’s Digital Yuan From 2026 Lu Lei, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), noted that this initiative will transform the digital yuan’s (e-CNY) role from digital cash to digital deposit money. Unlike cryptocurrencies that operate on distributed ledgers, the digital yuan uses a hybrid architecture under strict government control source: https://beincrypto.com/china-digital-yuan-interest-ban-crypto-2026/