In this episode of Interpreting India, Robert Greene joins Priyadarshini D. to explore the use and impact of China’s digital yuan. What's China's motivation behind its e-CNY? How does it work? What are some of the domestic and international implications of its rollout? The digital yuan is a centralized, cash-like digital currency. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC)--the Chinese central bank--and digital yuan operating institutions, which includes some of the largest state owned banks and tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent, have conducted large scale pilot programs in multiple cities over the past year. The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, in February, was originally planned as the grand international debut for the digital yuan. Those plans, however, went sideways with another outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.Of all the current CBDC pilots, the digital yuan elicits significant interest, given China's economic heft and geopolitical ambitions. In this episode of Interpreting India, we will delve into the debate surrounding China’s digital yuan. --Episode ContributorsRobert Greene is a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Cyber Policy Initiative and Asia Program. His work focuses on Chinese financial sector trends and on topics at the nexus of cyberspace governance, global finance, and national security. He has worked extensively on the global implications of China’s centrally backed digital currency. Robert is also the vice president and chief of staff at Patomak Global Partners, a financial services consultancy, Priyadarshini D. is an associate fellow with the Technology and Society Program at Carnegie India. She is interested in researching emerging issues at the intersection of law, technology, and finance. Her current research focuses on the impact and implications of introducing digital currencies, such as central bank digital currencies, specifically in the context of an emerging market like India. --Additional Reading:What does China's centrally backed digital currency mean for the world? by Robert GreeneBeijing’s Global Ambitions for Central Bank Digital Currencies Are Growing Clearer by Robert Greene Correct Design Can Ensure CBDCs Don’t Destabilise Banks by Priyadarshini D. China’s Digital Yuan: An Alternative to the Dollar-Dominated Financial System by Rajesh Bansal and Somya Singh