China’s CBDC Has Been Used for $9.7B of Transactions

China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) has been used to conduct 62 billion yuan ($9.7 billion) of transactions as of the end of October.

• A People’s Bank of China (PBOC) official said Wednesday that 140 million people had opened wallets for the digital yuan, or “eCNY,” according to a report by Reuters.
• Mu Changchun, director-general of the digital currency institute of China’s central bank, told Hong Kong’s Fintech Week conference that over 1.5 million merchants could accept payments using eCNY wallets.
• In addition, 10 million corporate accounts have been created, Bloomberg reported.
• The figures compare with those at the end of June, when there were 34 million individual and corporate eCNY wallet users who had conducted transactions worth $5.4 billion, according to Bloomberg.
• There is no official launch date for the CBDC, Mu said. The eCNY has been undergoing trials in cities across China over the last year.

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UPDATE (Nov. 3, 10:32 UTC): Adds corporate accounts, comparison with end-June figures.