China's CBDC grows to 261 million unique users

According to the People's Bank of China, China's CBDC now has 261 million unique users. In addition transactions worth 87.5 billion yuan ($13.78 billion) have been made using the China's CBDC, the digital yuan and more than 8 million merchants now accept e-CNY.

Zou Lan, head of financial markets at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), provided an update on the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan, at a press conference Tuesday.

According to the PBOC official, e-CNY had 261 million unique users at the end of 2021, and transactions worth 87.5 billion yuan ($13.78 billion) have been made using the Chinese central bank digital currency. In addition, more than 8 million merchants now accept the digital yuan.

China’s central bank has been actively testing its digital currency, also known as Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), in various cities over the past two years. The central bank has been giving digital yuan away through lotteries for residents to spend.

As of last the digital yuan wallet application was one of the fastest growing apps with regards to the number of downloads.

The trial regions for the digital yuan include Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha, Xian, Qingdao, Dalian, and venues of this year’s Winter Olympics, hosted by Beijing.