China allocates millions to promote CBDC

Authorities in several Chinese cities distributed 180 million e-CNY (~$26.5 million) in subsidies and coupons to spur the use of CBDC by the population for the Chinese New Year, the Global Times reports.

According to the outlet, around 200 events were launched for this purpose. In particular, one participant was the leading food-delivery service Meituan, which recorded the use of the distributed e-CNY within nine seconds.

Earlier, authorities added to the digital yuan wallet the winnings feature of the ‘red envelopes’ lottery and the ability for contactless payments on Android devices.

Earlier, the People’s Bank of China included the CBDC in the monetary base. At that time, 13.62 bn e-CNY (~$2 bn), which amounted to 0.13% of the total.

Former director of research at the НБК Se Ping called the interest in the digital yuan low. According to him, the total volume of e-CNY transactions over two years amounted to just over 100 billion yuan ($14 billion), which is “not ideal”.