Bank of China: 3 Million Transactions Conducted Using Digital Yuan So Far
- The comment was made by the Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China during his speech at the virtual SIBOS 2020 banking conference.
- The central bank has already created 113,300 personal and 9,000 corporate digital wallets, which were used to conduct more than 3 million transactions with the digital yuan.
The People’s Bank of China in Beijing, China. photographed on November 19, 2016. Shutterstock
China has finally revealed some statistics around its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) trial, which was conducted in three cities around the Country.
During a Monday speech at the virtual SIBOS 2020 banking conference the Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), Fan Yi Fei shared some figures about the digital yuan trials that have been conducted in the country. According to him, the trial saw more than 3 million transactions being conducted between April and August, with a total value of 1.1 billion RMB (around $162 million), by the citizens of Shenzhen, Suzhou and Xiong’an, where the pilot took place.
The Deputy Governor further revealed that China’s central bank had opened 113,300 personal digital wallets, and almost 9,000 corporate wallets during the trial, making the digital yuan the most widely used CBDC in a commercial setting. Fan also disclosed that the digital yuan saw use in over 6,700 types of use cases, such as bill payment, catering services, transportation, shopping and consumption, government services, and others.
The bank is also expected to explore the use of its digital yuan in tourism in a future pilot at the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympic Games. During his speech, Fan also discussed how CBDCs can be used to modernize payments, bypass international trade networks and exert geopolitical strength. He said:
“In cross-border payments, we could achieve interoperability and address the trilemma (low costs, low risks, high efficiencies) by using digital fiat currency, collaborating with private sectors and adapting to long-term technology evolution continuously and establish a fiat digital currency alliance that observes regulations across jurisdictions and complies with international standards, for instance PFMI (Principles for Financial Market Infrastructure).”
While the so called DC/EP (digital currency/electronic payment) system still has no release date, its trials are continuing to expand across different regions. Back in August, China’s Commerce Ministry revealed its plans to conduct trials of the country’s CBDC in Beijing, the Yangtze River Delta region, the provinces of Tianjin, Hebei and Guangdong, and the cities of Hong Kong and Macau.
- The head of China’s central bank digital currency institute said the e-CNY has undergone a major upgrade, and should be made available as an option in all retail scenarios.
- The PBOC official noted that platforms can integrate the CBDC in the short term using QR codes, and focus on upgrading their payment tools in the long run.
Office building of the People’s Bank of China. Flickr
- The team behind Multichain confirmed that their CEO was detained in China on 21 May, and that all of his electronic devices were confiscated by the local police.
- The CEO’s sister moved the project’s remaining funds to wallets under her control on 9 July, and several days later was also detained by the police, leaving the team with no funds.
- The current governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, announced he is joining the race for the 47th president of the U.S. during a Twitter Spaces event on Wednesday.
- During his speech DeSantis declared his support for Bitcoin and the wider crypto space, noting that if Joe Biden is re-elected “they’ll probably end up killing it”.