Opinion: "Token Export" Could Become a New Application Scenario for Central Bank Digital Currencies

Odaily reports that Caixin has published an article stating that "Token Export" is currently not a standard concept in regulatory documents or corporate annual reports. There is also no fully disclosed case in the open market that covers both "overseas clients invoking Tokens from China's AI data centers" and "completing cross-border payments, clearing, and final settlement via central bank digital currencies."

Discussions surrounding cross-border payments using central bank digital currencies are shifting from the grand narrative of monetary sovereignty and international financial competition towards newer scenarios based on more practical transactions. Among these, the AI inference service "Token Export" is seen as a potentially key entry point. This essentially packages model capabilities, computing power, electricity, data centers, and industry engineering expertise into tradable AI services for export. The core value of a central bank digital currency lies in its attribute as a "trusted settlement protocol." This includes the final settlement capability of central bank money, efficiency in real-time cross-border clearing, programmable payment functionality, multi-party automated revenue-sharing mechanisms, and embedded regulatory transparency. When combined with enterprise-level AI service metering systems, it can create a closed-loop process from invocation and billing to clearing and settlement.