July 07, 2025
By Our Correspondent
According to people with direct knowledge of the talks, China’s digital behemoths JD.com and Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba, are pleading with the central bank to approve yuan-based stablecoins in order to offset the increasing influence of cryptocurrencies connected to the US dollar.
In order to encourage the use of the Chinese currency worldwide and counteract the dollar’s increasing digital power, the two companies suggest that China permit the introduction of stablecoins in Hong Kong that are based on its offshore yuan, according to the two sources.
The actions take place as Hong Kong competes with the US to establish a stablecoin regulatory framework in an effort to expand its influence in international digital trade and banking.
If successful, their lobbying efforts might change China’s approach to encouraging the use of the yuan internationally and represent a significant change in Beijing’s perception of cryptocurrencies, which it outlawed in 2021.
Digital tokens known as “stablecoins” are cryptocurrencies that are linked to liquid assets, primarily the US dollar at the moment, but occasionally gold or other currencies as well.
They have the potential to upend established cross-border payment systems because of their underlying blockchain technology, which allows for instantaneous, borderless, and inexpensive money transfers around-the-clock.
After the new law on the island goes into effect on August 1, JD.com and Ant already intend to launch stablecoins backed by the Hong Kong dollar.
However, the sources told Reuters that JD.com has made the case that offshore yuan stablecoins are desperately required as a means of advancing yuan internationalization in private talks with the People’s Bank of China.
Other industry players have also voiced this opinion.
In a social media post last month, Wang Yongli, co-chairman of Digital China Information Service Group, stated, “The global expansion of U.S. dollar stablecoins is posing fresh challenges to yuan internationalization.”
Wang, the former vice head of Bank of China, stated that “if cross-border yuan payment is not as efficient as dollar stablecoins, it would be a strategic risk.”
The cryptocurrency analytics company CoinGecko estimates that the current size of the worldwide stablecoin market is about $247 billion. But by 2028, Standard Chartered Bank predicts it would reach $2 trillion.
The Bank for International Settlements reports that more than 99 percent of stablecoins are denominated in US dollars.
China has long hoped that the yuan will be a worldwide currency that reflects its status as the second-largest economy in the world and is comparable to the euro or dollar.
However, its unwillingness to loosen strict capital controls is one obstacle to this goal.
According to payment platform SWIFT, the yuan’s percentage of the world’s payment currencies dropped to 2.89% in May, the lowest level in nearly two years. The market share of the dollar is 48.46%.
