(Yicai) Jan. 19 -- The virtual Chinese yuan is being applied in many different scenarios, from subway ticket purchases to tax payments, in Suzhou four years after the metropolis in eastern Jiangsu province became one of the first four Chinese cities to roll out pilot schemes using the digital sovereign currency, Yicai learned during a recent visit.

Passengers can buy metro tickets and pass through the turnstiles at all rail transit stations in Suzhou using their smartphones, which are embedded with a digital yuan identity chip, even if they have no internet connection, are on lock screen or are powered off, Wu Chao, deputy general manager of the ticket clearing department at Suzhou Rail Transit Operation, told Yicai.

The e-yuan wallet can be used in all scenarios in the Huangqiao Future Factory, which is Suzhou’s first digital yuan demonstration industrial park. The park offers discounts to companies which pay their rent in digital yuan and gives reward points to firms and individuals that use the e-yuan wallet, Feng Xiaoming, director of the Suzhou Xiangcheng District Digital Financial Industry Development Center, told Yicai.

As a result the digital currency is widely used in the park and all companies pay their water and electricity bills as well as rent using the e-yuan. Some even pay their employees’ salaries in virtual yuan, Feng added.

Downtown Xiangcheng district is pioneering the use of the digital yuan and has enabled tax payments in the e-currency. Civil servants and employees of state-owned enterprises in the district also receive their salaries in e-yuan.

The district had received nearly 20,000 tax payments amounting to close to CNY20 billion (USD2.8 billion) in digital yuan as of the end of last year, said Chen Zhong, head of the tax bureau of the district.

The digital yuan can meet the diversified needs of companies and individuals allowing them to pay taxes and dues in real time with low service charges, Chen said.

Businesses in Xiangcheng district are expected to have spent more than CNY350 billion (USD49 billion) through their e-wallets last year, including CNY2.8 billion in salaries, according to data from the district government. More than 95 percent of merchants are experimenting with their digital yuan corporate wallet.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor