Digital yuan transaction volume tops $9.5 billion

As of October, about 140 million people opened wallets for the digital yuan and used it for transactions totaling about 62 billion CNY (~$9.7 billion), Reuters reports.

Mu Changchun, head of the Digital Currency Institute at the Peoples Bank of China, announced the data at Fintech Week in Hong Kong.

He added that payments in the asset, known as eCNY or DCEP, can already be accepted by about 1.55 million merchants, including utilities, dining, transportation, retail and government services.

Mu Changchun also noted that the official launch date for eCNY has not yet been determined.

The Peoples Bank of China began testing the eCNY in 2020. At that time, according to BIS researchers, 80% of central banks were studying the possibilities of national digital currencies (CBDCs). However, according to many experts, China has progressed the furthest in this process.

The program of the digital yuan experiments gradually expanded. In December 2020, testing involved six largest state-owned banks, and by August 2021 access to the asset had been opened to 35 commercial banks.

Concerns about lagging behind China in CBDC development were expressed by US lawmakers. This followed the publication in China of the first white paper on the digital yuan .

the Fed also said there was a need to win the CBDC race.

As reported, the BIS urged central banks to accelerate the development of digital currencies, and the renowned economist Nouriel Roubini predicted a widespread shift of states to CBDC-based settlements.