Proposed legislation suggests that the payment system could allow Beijing to spy on Americans, although why this might be important when ordinary people are more likely to be spied upon by US companies is anyone’s guess.

The bill by Senators Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio and Mike Braun states that companies that own or control app stores "shall not carry or support any app in [their] app store(s) within the United States that supports or enables transactions in e-CNY."

According to Cotton's office, digital yuan could provide the Chinese government with "real-time visibility into all transactions on the network, posing privacy and security concerns for American persons who join this network."