China’s e-CNY App Launches SIM Card Hard Wallet Function

Credit: Visual China

BEIJING, July 12 (TiPost) – China Mobile, along with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), and China Telecom and China Unicom, in collaboration with the Bank of China, have announced the availability of the SIM card hard wallet product on the E-CNY app.

This innovative product, launched on Tuesday, links the digital yuan soft wallet with the Super SIM card, enabling it to make digital yuan payments. Users simply need to insert the operator-issued Super SIM card into their cell phones, access the e-CNY app, turn on the SIM card hard wallet function, and utilize the NFC function on their Android phones to complete digital yuan transactions with a simple click. However, only Android phones with at least Android 7 operating system and iPhone 7 and more powerful iPhones with at least operating system 13.0 support this feature.

Industry insiders have hailed this new function as a significant advancement, which expands the scope of use of digital yuan payment to a scenario of a cellphone being “out of power.”  The convenience and user-friendliness offered by this feature are expected to enhance the overall payment experience for digital yuan users.

The digital yuan SIM card hard wallet boasts enhanced security measures, including secure key management, adherence to GP specifications, and support for state secret algorithms. The SIM card hard wallet facilitates payment even without a power source or network connection. Whether the phone’s screen is on or off, the payment can be completed with a simple touch, eliminating the need to open any payment software.

This feature is designed to be friendly to the elderly, who may be less familiar with smartphones. Moreover, when replacing a cell phone, as long as the Super SIM card remains intact, transferring it to the new device allows for a seamless transition without affecting the user’s payment experience.

Ma Zhaoning, the project leader of ICBC’s digital RMB team, emphasized that the digital yuan incorporates various settings to ensure fund safety. Users can set the limit for password-free payment for small amounts according to their preferences. For those concerned about the risk of funds, the option to disable password-free payment can be activated, requiring POS password verification before each transaction. In the event of a lost phone, users can log in to the e-CNY app on another device and deactivate the SIM card hard wallet to prevent fund loss.

Currently, in the digital yuan pilot areas, including Suzhou, Hangzhou, Kunming and a few other cities, the SIM card hard wallet can be used for payment at POS machines equipped with NFC functionality that accept digital yuan. The cities where the digital yuan can be used account for a small percentage of China. 

In the future, China Mobile will leverage its extensive user traffic and collaborate with the ICBC to further enrich the payment scenarios for the digital yuan SIM card hard wallet. This will be achieved by utilizing features such as the cellphone fee payment via voice, utilities bill payment, and consumer finance services.

Bank of China, China Telecom, and China Unicom also aim to deepen their cooperation and drive joint innovation. They see the promotion of the SIM card hard wallet application as an opportunity to explore its usage in various sectors such as rail transportation, daily consumer needs, school campus, e-commerce, public payment systems, commercial retailing, education, and training. Notably, with the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), empowering a multitude of IoT devices with SIM card hard wallet capabilities presents the potential for business expansion into new domains and applications.

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