(Yicai) Feb. 11 -- Migrant workers at a construction site in Chengdu have become the first in China to receive their wages in e-yuan, the official digital currency issued by the country’s central bank.

Guided by the People’s Bank of China’s e-yuan operations and management center, Bank of Communications paid more than CNY1 million (USD140,000) in wages to 104 migrant workers, with payouts executed automatically based on pre-set payroll details.

“I was thrilled to see my wages arrive in my wallet within seconds,” said Wang Tonglin, one of the workers.

BOC used the e-yuan smart contract ecosystem service platform, a specialized digital infrastructure of the e-yuan operations and management center, to make the payments. The bank opened an e-yuan corporate wallet for the project's general contractor and embedded a smart payroll contract, achieving closed-loop management and direct full payment of wages, thereby preventing potential misappropriation or diversion of funds at the source.

Since the wages were credited directly to personal e-yuan wallets, the process was transparent, with traceable nodes and instant payment. The technology resolves the pain points of traditional payroll payments, including multiple steps, difficult supervision, and high risk of misappropriation, providing a replicable and scalable digital solution for ensuring worker pay in construction projects.

Digital yuan smart contracts enable agreements to be digitized, automated, and mandatorily executed through an integrated framework of infrastructure, rules, and technical standards, a staff member at the e-yuan operations and management center, told Yicai, adding that the system eliminates human intervention and supports cross-institution interoperability.

The center will further improve its foundational service capabilities, deepen ecosystem collaboration, and distill replicable application models for broader rollout, Lu noted. It will also work closely with participating banks to expand innovative applications for e-yuan smart contracts, providing more smart services for industrial development and social governance, Lu pointed out.

Beyond salary payments, e-yuan smart contracts have been piloted in areas including prepaid fund management, supply chain finance, corporate group financial management, and subsidy disbursement, according to the center’s data. As of the end of last month, 486,400 such contracts had been signed, with transactions reaching CNY316 million (USD44.2 million).

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev