Having examined cheques and bills of exchange in Chapter 8, we now move onto more contemporary methods of payment. In this chapter, we introduce the regulatory framework and basic concepts, and then discuss the ePayments Code. We then consider two sets of emerging issues: Open Banking and Central Bank Digital Currency.

This chapter covers two important topics, namely equity crowdfunding and central bank digital currency. Equity crowdfunding was once a popular idea in China and almost gained formal recognition of the regulator. However, due to various reasons, equity crowdfunding failed to be written into the 2019 Securities Law. This means that in the foreseeable future, equity crowdfunding is unlikely to be legally permitted as a special Fintech sector in China. A very recent major development of Fintech in China is the Digital Currency Electronic Payment project (DC/EP) initiated by the Chinese central bank. Unlike Bitcoin and other types of cryptoassets, DC/EP has the backing of the credit of a state and is based on a more complicated system of operation. China is at the international forefront of developing central bank digital currency (sovereign digital currency), which has attracted a lot of attention. However, the development is still at an early stage, and only time will tell how the DC/EP will operate in practice and what effects it will bring to the people in China and beyond.