Digital Yuan Isn’t a Dollar Replacement, Zhou Xiaochuan Says

China’s digital yuan is designed for retail transactions, not to replace the U.S. dollar, former central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan told a forum over the weekend.

His remarks came amid heated discussion over whether the central bank’s digital yuan and its Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) will enable Russia to bypass the impact of being cut off from SWIFT, the world’s biggest interbank payment messaging system, in the wake of its attack on Ukraine.