According to CCData’s latest Stablecoins & CBDCs report, USDT’s market capitalization has risen 2.03% in April to $81.5 billion, near its $83.7 billion all-time high seen in May of last year. 

Chinese tech giant Tencent has announced that its WeChat ecosystem will allow users to make digital yuan payments on applets and video channels, enabling them to pay via in-app applets using the Chinese central bank digital currency (CBDC). WeChat users can also shop on e-commerce platforms such as JD.com without leaving the WeChat ecosystem. Merchants will need to ensure they have the required software to accept digital CNY payments, and the move is expected to benefit businesses offering travel, catering, and retail services. WeChat's neobanking arm WeBank is among the digital yuan wallet operators that can be used to make payments.

South Korea is reportedly moving closer to launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC), with a new draft law set to create legal terminology for CBDCs.

South Korea is reportedly moving closer to launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC), with a new draft law set to create legal terminology for CBDCs. The bill will include clauses that spell out the legal differences between cryptoassets and CBDCs, and will explicitly exclude the CBDC issued by the Bank of Korea and services related to the token from regulation laid out in the forthcoming Virtual Assets Act. Some regulators and MPs initially worried that the clause might cause confusion, but the mood has reportedly changed, and the regulatory Financial Services Commission is set to "make a concession" and endorse the clause. The Bank of Korea has not officially announced the launch of a digital won, but some expect it to speed up the introduction of its CBDC.

China is expanding the use cases for its central bank digital currency (CBDC) called digital yuan or e-CNY for its Belt and Road initiative and cross-border trades. The government has expanded its testing parameter to include multiple cities and millions of people, and a plan promoting the use of the Chinese digital currency in cross-border trade has been issued in Xuzhou city. Xuzhou is a trade hub and plans to promote e-CNY use to pay for services and storage charges for goods carried by cross-border trains. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has also announced that Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area will be a testing ground for making cross-border payments using digital yuan. The Chinese government has ramped up its CBDC efforts at a time when international trade markets are moving away from the standard U.S. dollar.

Chinese digital currency-related stocks experienced gains on Monday, despite a general market decline, as China continues to promote its digital yuan. The official use of the central bank's digital currency has expanded to other regions, and the city of Changshu will begin paying state sector employees in digital yuan starting in May. This move is expected to increase the use of digital money and help promote the virtual currency. Some experts believe that the rise of the digital yuan could accelerate the decline of the US dollar as the world's reserve currency, as China seeks to employ it for trade on a global scale. The use of the digital yuan is also seen as a way to protect individuals' privacy and to restrict the use of the yuan outside of China.

The digital ruble platform being developed by the Bank of Russia will have the capability to interact with other state-issued digital currencies, according to the central bank.

All civil servants in the Chinese city of Changshu will receive their full salaries in digital RMB or digital yuan starting from May 2023, according to a notice issued by local authorities. This includes public service personnel, public institution personnel, and personnel of state-owned units at all levels in the city. Employees will be able to opt for digital yuan settlements through self-service terminals. The move comes as part of China's push for CBDC adoption, with Jiangsu Province, where Changshu is located, initiating a pilot program for digital RMB earlier this year. However, the adoption of CBDC in Hong Kong has been slow, with only 625 residents signing up for the digital yuan hard wallet launch despite a 20% discount on purchases from local vendors.

The digital ruble platform being developed by the Bank of Russia will have the capability to interact with other state-issued digital currencies, according to the central bank. The bank is working on mechanisms to facilitate interaction with digital coins issued by other countries' central banks, potentially through two-way integration or an international digital platform. The Bank of Russia does not plan to create a national crypto exchange but is considering legalizing international crypto settlements under experimental legal regimes. The bank is also open to using stablecoins in cross-border payments or trading them through Russian exchanges. The bank is exploring alternative payment gateways with partnering nations, including Turkey, amid Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

CBDCs are legal tender regulated by central banks whereas Universal Monetary Unit is a money commodity regulated by the U.S. Commodities Futures and Trade Commission (CFTC).