China’s central bank shared the latest statistics about its digital RMB pilot for central bank digital currency (CBDC). Cumulative transaction volumes reached RMB 6.6 trillion ($910 billion) through to May 2024. The People’s Bank of China said this represents 7.3 times the previous figures, which we believe compares calendar 2023 to 2022.
The central bank published the details as part of a broader publication of financial statistics on social media using pictograms.
It’s been a year since the central bank previously shared figures, with fewer details revealed each time.
As noted last year, there’s been more usage of the CBDC for business transactions, including some that are very high value. Additionally, some staff employed by state-owned enterprises receive their salaries using the digital yuan. Together this is likely to mean an even greater rise in average transaction values.
The central bank also revealed M0 figures which include the digital RMB, without sharing the current CBDC in circulation. There was 13.61 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) in circulation at the end of 2022 rising to 16.5 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) in June 2023.
Meanwhile, the pilot has expanded to 26 regions across 17 provinces. While the core CBDC does not use DLT, several solutions now use smart contracts. As previously reported, there are hints that the digital currency might be close to emerging from the pilot phase with the terminology dropped from the app.
