Coinbase Says China Is Ahead of the U.S. on Digital Yuan Rails

Shirzad points to the rapid growth of e-CNY and mBridge, while the U.S. Senate still has not voted on new crypto rules and stablecoins.

Key Takeaways

• Coinbase executive Faryar Shirzad says China has moved ahead of the U.S. in the financial infrastructure behind crypto and digital payments.
• China’s central bank says the digital yuan has handled 3.48 billion payments worth about $2.37 trillion.
• In the U.S., the push for new crypto rules is still stalled, and the Senate has not voted yet.

China has taken the lead over the U.S. in an important part of the payment infrastructure tied to crypto and digital finance, Coinbase executive Faryar Shirzad said. He argued that the growth of the digital yuan shows the next generation of financial rails is already taking shape, even as the U.S. Senate still has not held a vote on new crypto rules.

China Is Building Payment Rails

In an interview with Fox Business, Shirzad, Coinbase’s chief policy officer, said crypto should be seen as a way to move value, not just as an investment theme. He was talking about the underlying rails that allow money to move across banks and borders. In his view, China is putting more effort into that layer than any other country.

The public data backs up part of that point. China’s central bank says the digital yuan, or e-CNY, has processed 3.48 billion payments totaling about $2.37 trillion (€2.1 trillion). That figure is up more than 800 percent since 2023. Since January 1, the digital yuan has also been more tightly woven into China’s banking system, where balances can earn interest and are protected by deposit insurance.

mBridge Expands the Reach

That fits into a wider Chinese push to make the yuan more global and less reliant on the dollar for cross-border trade and finance. A key piece of that effort is mBridge, a cross-border payments project being built with other central banks. So far, the system has settled about $55.49 billion (€48.7 billion), and most of that volume has moved through the digital yuan.

Those numbers are still small compared with total global payment flows, but the pace of growth is notable. In 2022, just $22 million (€19.3 million) moved through the system. For European crypto readers, the bigger point is that governments are no longer just testing digital currencies. They are also building parallel payment infrastructure that could operate outside the traditional Western-led system.

The U.S. Is Still Stuck in Debate

The U.S. is moving much more slowly. In Washington, the debate over crypto rules is still unresolved, and Shirzad said the Senate has yet to hold a vote. At the same time, lawmakers are also working through a separate fight over stablecoins and how interest on them should be handled, which is adding another layer of delay.

The contrast is hard to miss: private dollar stablecoins still dominate the crypto market, while China is pushing ahead with state-backed rails. Coinbase is using that comparison to make a broader point that the battle over financial infrastructure is not just about tokens, but about who controls the payment layer that comes next.

The gridlock in Washington is also happening alongside other stalled legislation. In the Senate, the CLARITY Act is still stuck as well, making it harder for the U.S. to establish a clear framework for digital assets.