Key Insights:
- Crypto news reveals China redesigned e-CNY from digital cash to traditional bank deposits in late 2025.
- Interest payments have been added, but the rate is extremely low at 0.05%, yielding only $50 annually on $10,000.
- e-CNY represents only 0.2% of China’s payment system, contradicting the USD threat narrative.
Crypto news today focused on China’s digital currency called e-CNY. A group called Weiss Crypto said this currency is a big threat to the US dollar. They noted that e-CNY had processed 3.4 billion transactions worth $2.3 trillion by November 2025. That sounds huge.
But an expert from a research group called PIIE tells a very different story. Martin Chorzempa studies digital money for his job. He says the threat to the dollar is overblown, and China actually gave up on its original plan.
Crypto News: China Changed e-CNY from New Digital Money to Regular Bank Deposits
Martin Chorzempa explained that China made a major change to e-CNY in late 2025. The original idea was to create digital cash issued directly by China’s central bank. People would hold this money just like they hold physical cash. It would be a completely new type of money. This is what most people call a CBDC, which stands for central bank digital currency.
But China changed direction completely. Now e-CNY works like regular bank deposits instead.
When someone holds e-CNY, the money stays as a liability on a commercial bank’s books. The bank can lend this money to others, just like it can with regular deposits. The central bank no longer holds the money directly. This means e-CNY is no longer really a CBDC by most definitions. Crypto news watchers were surprised by this big shift.
Why did China make this change? The answer is simple. Banks were scared. If too many people moved their regular deposits into central bank digital money, the banks would lose funds. Banks need deposits to make loans. Without deposits, banks cannot function properly.
China decided that protecting its banking system was more important than creating revolutionary new money.
Interest Rates are Too Low to Attract Real Money
China added a new feature that lets e-CNY holders earn interest. Weiss Crypto and others promoted this as a game-changer. They said it would make e-CNY more attractive than US dollar alternatives. But the actual numbers tell a different story, according to crypto news analysis.
Chinese deposit rates are capped very low by the government. Current rates range from 0.05% to 0.5% per year. If someone puts $10,000 into e-CNY, they would earn only about $50 in one full year. Compare that to US dollar stablecoins like USDC. Americans can earn much higher rates through platforms like Coinbase. Some people get returns many times higher than what e-CNY offers.
This tiny interest rate will not convince people to move money from dollars into e-CNY. The rate is just too small to matter.
Martin Chorzempa clearly stated this in his research. The interest feature sounds good in headlines, but it does not change the competitive picture between currencies.
e-CNY is Tiny Compared to China’s Real Payment System
The 3.4 billion transactions and $2.3 trillion in total value sound impressive at first. Crypto news headlines make it seem like e-CNY is taking over China. But context matters a lot here. China’s overall digital payment system is absolutely massive. Banks plus apps like Alipay and WeChat Pay process about 1 quadrillion RMB every three months. That equals roughly 1,000 trillion RMB per quarter.
The e-CNY transactions in all of 2024 totaled only about 4.2 trillion RMB. That represents just 0.2% of China’s total payment volume. Even after years of government promotion, e-CNY remains a tiny slice of how Chinese people actually move money. Most people stick with Alipay and WeChat Pay because those apps already work perfectly well.
Cross-border use is even smaller. China promoted mBridge, an international payments solution using e-CNY. Total transactions through mBridge reached only about 4,047 deals so far. That is nothing in global payment terms. The crypto news narrative about e-CNY threatening dollar dominance does not match the actual usage numbers at all.
China gave up on revolutionary digital money and chose to protect traditional banks instead. The interest rates are too low to compete. Actual usage is microscopic compared to that of existing Chinese payment systems.
Martin Chorzempa’s analysis shows the real story behind the crypto news hype. The dollar remains dominant while e-CNY becomes just another form of regular banking dressed up with some new technology.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2026/02/20/crypto-news-e-cny-processes-2-3t-as-analysts-downplay-usd-threat/
