China’s digital currency passes 100 billion yuan in spending – PBOC

As the nation continues to roll out a central bank digital currency, China's central bank announced on Wednesday that transactions utilizing the digital yuan have exceeded 100 billion yuan ($13.9 billion) as of August 31.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) reported that the spending encompassed 360 million transactions in pilot zones across 15 provinces and municipalities and that more than 5.6 million businesses may now accept payments with the digital currency.

China is leading the race for central banks to create digital currencies, albeit adoption is still in its infancy. By the end of 2021, there were more transactions utilizing e-CNY than there were in 2017, according to the PBOC.

To boost consumption, battle the pandemic, and support low-carbon transportation, pilot locations issued roughly 30 rounds of e-CNY subsidies in 2022, including $4.5 million in free digital cash in Shanghai in May, according to the PBOC.

The central bank also performed experiments to connect with Hong Kong's local digital payment system and participated in the cross-border multiple Central Bank Digital Currency (mCBDC) Bridge trial designed by the Bank of International Settlements, according to the statement.

According to the bank, the e-CNY will be promoted for use in corporate and private business, as well as in finance, taxation, and governmental issues. The e-CNY has so far primarily been utilized for domestic retail payments.

In order to make the e-CNY system more convenient for customers and businesses, it also promised to link it with the established digital payment system, which is dominated by Tencent Holding's WeChat Pay and Alipay from Alibaba Group.