Digital Yuan Pilot Records $250 Billion Transactions, Claims People’s Bank of China

Since the introduction of China’s digital yuan a year and a half ago, the pilot program has seen transactions worth approximately $250 billion, according to Yi Gang, the governor of the People’s Bank of China. He shared this update at a recent conference held in Singapore on July 19.

As per the central bank governor’s comments, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) had processed transactions amounting to 1.8 trillion yuan by the end of June. Since the digital yuan began its journey in January 2022, around 120 million wallets have made close to 950 million transactions, with an average transaction value of about $260.

Furthermore, Yi Gang reported that around $2.3 billion, equivalent to 16.5 billion digital yuan, was in circulation by the end of June. According to a Reuters report published on July 19, this constitutes a mere 0.16% of China’s total monetary supply.

However, the use of the digital yuan has not yet reached significant levels within China’s 1.4 billion population. It has primarily found utility in domestic retail payments, with a few trial runs in Hong Kong, indicating that there’s still a long way to go for broader adoption.