China just made its most concrete move yet to take the digital yuan global. On June 16, the People’s Bank of China signed direct participant agreements with 26 financial institutions, formally onboarding them into a new cross-border payment network built entirely around the e-CNY.

The platform is called Cross-border e-CNY Transfer Services, or CBETS. It runs 24/7 and is designed to connect foreign central banks and financial institutions directly to China’s digital currency infrastructure. Standard Chartered Bank (China) is among the most prominent names in the first cohort.

What CBETS actually does

The platform creates direct digital payment links between the PBOC and participating foreign institutions. The system operates around the clock, which matters when you’re trying to settle payments across Asia, the Middle East, and South America simultaneously.

The 26 institutions signing on represent what the PBOC is calling its first tier of direct participants. These include branches of Chinese-funded banks operating abroad, along with foreign banks like Standard Chartered. The geographic spread is notable: participating institutions come from Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Qatar, and Brazil, among other countries.

Years in the making

China’s digital yuan project has been in development since its initial domestic pilot programs launched in 2020. In 2025, the PBOC established an international operations center in Shanghai. The signing ceremony for these 26 institutions also took place in Shanghai.

Jean Lu, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank (China), framed the moment in transformative terms during the event.

“Fintech is fundamentally reshaping the underlying logic of cross-border payments.”

Lu described the agreement as a foundational step toward changing how international commerce is actually conducted.

Why this matters for markets and geopolitics

The inclusion of institutions from Brazil, Qatar, and multiple Southeast Asian nations is particularly telling. These are countries where trade with China is already massive and growing. Giving them a frictionless way to settle in yuan removes one of the last practical barriers to de-dollarization in those corridors.

For investors, the potential increase in foreign exchange activity around yuan-denominated assets is worth watching. As more institutions can transact in e-CNY with minimal friction, liquidity in those markets should deepen.

26 institutions is a starting point, not an endpoint. The real test will be transaction volume. But for the first time, China has a live, multi-country digital payment network with real banks plugged in.