China's CBDC Hits Major Milestone: Records Over $250 Billion in Transactions

Last updated on July 31st, 2023 at 03:16 pm

During a conference in Singapore on July 19, 2023, Yi Gang, the governor of the People’s Bank of China, revealed that the Chinese central bank digital currency (CBDC) had facilitated transactions amounting to 1.8 trillion yuan, equivalent to over $250 billion as of the end of June 2023.

According to Gang, since the e-CNY’s initial rollout in January 2022, there have been approximately 950 million transactions made from around 120 million wallets. He further mentioned the total circulation of e-CNY reached 16.5 billion ($2.3 billion) by the end of June, accounting for about 0.16% of China’s monetary supply.

Governor Gang highlighted the impressive development of China’s CBDC initiative, stating that this milestone was achieved within just one-and-a-half years since the inception of the pilot program.

The e-CNY has primarily been used for domestic retail payments, with only a few experimental trials conducted in Hong Kong. However, on July 18, 2023, the Bank of China Hong Kong reportedly initiated a cross-border payment scheme exclusively for Bank of China customers at selected retail stores in Hong Kong. This new initiative is the third trial of the digital yuan in Hong Kong. According to the report, it was designed to boost the use of e-CNY in cross-border transactions.

Notably, Jinan, a city in China, made a noteworthy stride toward promoting CBDC adoption for public use. The city announced recently that it now supports digital yuan payments on all its bus lines. The city had conducted a successful pilot program on two of its bus lines, B52 and BRT5. The positive feedback from users during the pilot phase encouraged the city administration to implement the new payment system throughout its entire bus network.

To achieve this, Jinan upgraded its card readers and bus route software, allowing passengers to conveniently make payments using digital currency. This move marks a significant leap forward in the integration of CBDC into everyday transactions and showcases the Chinese government’s commitment to embracing innovative financial technologies.

China’s CBDC Hits Major Milestone: Records Over $250 Billion in Transactions

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