(Yicai) Feb. 11 -- Migrant workers at a construction project in western Chengdu have become the first in China to receive their wages in digital yuan, with the transactions made under the guidance of the E-Yuan Operations and Management Center affiliated with the country's central bank.

The Bank of Communications, the coordinating institution in this case, leveraged the E-Yuan Smart Contract Ecosystem Service Platform -- a core infrastructure of the E-Yuan Operations and Management Center -- to pay more than CNY1 million (USD140,000) to 104 migrant workers. The process was executed automatically based on pre-set salary details.

The use of digital yuan to pay migrant workers marks a breakthrough in the application of e-yuan smart contracts in key livelihood scenarios, highlighting the achievements of multi-party collaboration and technological innovation.

"I was thrilled to see my wage arrive in my wallet within seconds," said Wang Tonglin, one of the migrant workers.

The Bank of Communications 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, preventing potential misappropriation or diversion of funds at the source.

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

E-yuan smart contracts achieve digitization, automation, and enforcement of agreements through a unified set of infrastructure, rules, and standards, Lu Yunhan, 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 fundamental services, strengthen ecosystem synergy, and summarize and promote existing application models, Lu noted. It will also work with member banks to explore more innovative applications of digital currency smart contracts, providing more smart services for industrial development and social governance, Lu pointed out.

E-yuan smart contracts have had other uses beyond salary payments, having been piloted in prepaid fund management, supply chain finance, corporate group financial management, subsidy distribution, and other areas as of the end of last month, according to data released by the E-Yuan Operations and Management Center. Some 486,400 relevant contracts have been signed, with transactions reaching CNY316 million (USD44.2 million).

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev