BEIJING: Chinese merchants are already preparing for the cross-border usage of digital yuan, or e-CNY, at a time when some major central banks in the world have not yet decided to develop their own digital currencies.

Some terminal device manufacturers, eying the cross-border payment function of e-CNY, have cooperated with large commercial banks and applied to the central bank for business licenses of exchanging digital yuan for foreign currencies and for retail use, said an executive of a manufacturer who declined to be named.