Report: Digital Yuan Transactions Volume Crossed $14B Mark
- China’s digital Yuan is the most advanced CBDC in the world.
- In August, a Chinese province said it had begun accepting the digital Yuan as payment for transportation.
- Financial regulators like the European Central Bank believe CBDCs are important in maintaining global financial stability.
According to a new report by the Bank of China, the pilot phase of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiment has seen transactions total 100.04 billion yuan, or almost $14 billion. This makes the digital Chinese yuan, or e-CNY, the most commonly used CBDC globally.
Despite having a cold stance against cryptocurrencies, China has made significant progress in its efforts to launch a digital token. The Bank of China revealed that about 360 million transactions had been completed in 15 provinces under the CBDC pilot program. The financial regulator claimed that more than 5.6 million merchant outlets already accept digital currency as legitimate money.
The CBDC pilot covers a wide range of citizen payments and has been adopted by several state institutions. A post on the Bank of China’s website read,
Multiple e-government service platforms have opened digital renminbi payment services, supporting online and offline channels to handle various public utility payments, using digital renminbi to issue tax rebate funds, special funds for monthly medical insurance payments, funds for helping people in need, and ‘specialized, special and new’ enterprise support funds, etc.
The Bank of China noted that there are plans to advance the use of the digital Yuan, including starting cross-border payments between Hong Kong and mainland China. It also plans to investigate the multilateral cross-border option in partnership with the Bank for International Settlement, working on safeguarding users’ private information.
CBDCs have gained popularity in many countries, and China currently occupies the leading spot. The country’s central bank has been working to increase adoption since it began the CBDC trials in 2020. Different Chinese provinces have adopted the digital Yuan. In August, BitcoinWisdom reported that China had deployed the digital Yuan for transportation as part of the second phase of its pilot test.
While there are mixed opinions about cryptocurrencies, financial regulators are seeing CBDCs as the future of payment. The European Central Bank, in August, noted that CBDCs are vital for global financial stability. The financial body noted that a central bank digital currency was the only way of ensuring the continuation of the current financial system.
The European Central Bank is also pushing for the launch of a digital euro, which it believes would strengthen the European economy. An executive board member of the ECB previously said that a digital euro would “fortify our monetary sovereignty and provide a form of central bank money for making daily digital payments across the euro area, just like cash for physical transactions.”
About nine countries have launched their own CBDC, while others, such as the US, are exploring the possibility.
Lawrence has covered some exciting stories in his career as a journalist, he finds blockchain-related stories very intriguing. He believes Web3 will change the world and wants everyone to be a part of it.
