China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan, has been used in transactions worth nearly $10 billion, according to an official with the Chinese central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). In addition, the government’s digital wallet has been downloaded by around 140 million people.
Digital Yuan’s Adoption Rises, Nearly $10 Billion Transacted
Mu Changchun, the director-general of the digital currency institute of China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), shared the adoption progress of the digital yuan at Hong Kong’s Fintech Week conference Wednesday.
He revealed that some 140 million people had downloaded the Chinese central bank’s (CBDC) digital currency wallet, eCNY, in October. In addition, the digital yuan has been used in transactions totaling around 62 billion yuan ($ 9.7 billion), Reuters reported.
While China has been actively testing its digital yuan, the PBOC official said that there is no official launch date for the digital currency.
Mu added that so far, 1.55 million merchants were able to accept payments using eCNY wallets, including utilities, food services, transportation, retail and government services.
A growing number of central banks worldwide are exploring launching their own CBDCs. According to the Atlantic Council’s CBDC tracker, 87 countries are currently exploring a CBDC. Among them, seven have launched, 17 are being piloted, 15 are under development, and 39 are being researched.
In September, the head of the innovation hub of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Benoît Coeuré, urged central banks to act now on central bank digital currencies to compete with private sector initiatives, including crypto -coins.
