Yesterday China’s central bank announced the latest statistics of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) issuance. By the end of August, the pilot digital yuan had a cumulative 360 million transactions, 36% higher than the 264 million three months earlier.
The Digital Currency Research Institute said that the cumulative value of eCNY transactions was 100.04 billion yuan ($13.9bn), a 20% increase from 83 billion ($11.5bn) in May. Together this implies the average transaction value has declined from 314 yuan ($43.52) to 278 yuan ($38.50). This could mean there were fewer business transactions.
The number of merchant stores accepting transactions is now 5.6 million compared to 4.567 million.
| June 21 | Oct 21 | Dec 21 | May 22 | Aug 22 | |
| Personal wallets | 20.87m | 140m | 261m | n/a | n/a |
| Corporate wallets | 3.51m | 10m | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Transaction numbers | 70.75m | 150m | n/a | 264m | 360m |
| Transaction value | RMB 34.5 | RMB 62 bn | RMB 87.6 bn (?) | RMB 83 bn | RMB 100.04 bn ($13.9bn) |
| Average transaction value | RMB 488 | RMB 413 | n/a | RMB 314 | RMB 278 |
Cross border eCNY proceeds
It was confirmed that cross border payments are also being trialed, but neither of the activities is new. It’s widely known that the People’s Bank of China is participating in the MBridge Project, a multi-CBDC initiative involving the BIS Innovation Hub and the central banks of Hong Kong, Thailand and the UAE. The project involved 20 banks and recently concluded, processing a total of $22 million in foreign exchange transactions.
It is also linking the digital yuan to Hong Kong’s faster payment system, which was reported late last year.
