Today Yi Gang, Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) shared details about the digital yuan pilots’ progress talking at Hong Kong Fintech Week, as reported by Bloomberg. To date, there have been four million transactions for the central bank digital currency (CBDC), totaling more than two billion yuan ($299 million). Based on previous figures shared, the average transaction amount has increased significantly, almost trebling, potentially pointing to greater business usage.
At SIBOS last month, PBoC Deputy Governor Fan Yi Fei shared statistics for the digital renminbi through to August. At that stage, the figures were RMB 1.1 billion ($163 million) in value and 3,127,600 transactions.
While the amounts provided are rounded, until August, the average transaction value was 352 yuan ($52.55), which increased to 1030 yuan ($153.77) for the September to October period.
That would seem to be relatively large as an average for consumer transactions, hence the possibility that testing is being increasingly used for business and potentially trade.
In October, the PBoC announced the results of a public trial in Shenzhen, where 50,000 people were awarded 200 yuan in a lottery, with total distributions amounting to $1.3 million. The aim was to encourage spending. Notably, people could add money to their eCNY digital wallets and continue using the wallets after completing the pilot.
