China’s central bank governor has revealed that transactions using the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) reached 1.8 trillion yuan ($250 billion) at the end of June. In addition, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) official stated that digital yuan in circulation amounted to 16.5 billion yuan.
Latest Digital Yuan Stats
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Yi Gang disclosed the latest statistics on China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) on Wednesday at a lecture organized by Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
The Chinese central banker revealed that transactions utilizing China’s central bank digital currency, also called e-CNY, reached 1.8 trillion yuan ($250 billion) at the end of June. By comparison, approximately 100 billion in digital yuan transactions were recorded in August last year.
Yi also revealed that China’s central bank digital currency in circulation amounted to 16.5 billion yuan at the end of June. Moreover, he stated that the total number of digital yuan transactions hit 950 million, with 120 million wallets being opened.
Noting that e-CNY in circulation accounted for only 0.16% of China’s M0 money supply, or cash in circulation, Yi was quoted by Reuters as saying:
Right now the balance of e-CNY is only counting two-tenths of 1% of M0, so that the balance is very small, but with this kind of balance (we) support a big number of transactions, which means that the velocity is high and more efficient.
The PBOC launched pilot trials for the digital yuan at the end of 2019 and has been testing the digital currency in various cities across China, including Suzhou, Shenzhen, Xiongan, and Chengdu. In July, the city of Jinan implemented digital yuan payments for public transportation fares. The Shanghai Clearing House also recently added support for digital yuan settlements. Meanwhile, Bank of China expanded digital yuan testing to SIM cards and NFC payments.
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