Bank of China’s CBDC trial transaction count crossed 3 million between April and August

The Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), Fan Yi Fei, shared some insights about the country’s CBDC (central bank digital currency) trials during the virtual SIBOS 2020 banking conference. Apparently, CBDC trials have crossed 3 million transactions between April and August in the cities of Shenzhen, Suzhou and Xiong’an. During this time period, 1.1 billion RMB (~$162 million) worth of transactions was conducted.

Positive progress of China’s CBDC 

China’s CBDC, aka “digital currency, electronic payment” or DCEP, is enjoying positive progress and has already covered over 6,700 payment scenarios, as per the deputy governor. These scenarios range from transportation tickets, bills to government services. However, PBoC maintains that DCEP has solely covered micro-transactions.

The DCEP tests have seamlessly integrated with existing payment methods like QR codes and facial scanners. As per Yifei, more than 120,000 personal and corporate digital wallets for the DCEP were created since the trials' inception. Back in August, China’s Commerce Ministry announced plans to extend the CBDC trials in Beijing, the Yangtze River Delta region, the provinces of Tianjin, Hebei and Guangdong, and the cities of Hong Kong and Macau.

What are the future plans for the CBDC program?

During the speech, Yifei insisted that the DCEP is a critical component of China’s future financial infrastructure. Plus, the government plans on testing out the CBDC at the 2020 Winter Olympic Games. It remains to be seen if the DCEP can adequately compete against the existing digital payment platforms in the Chinese market – Alipay and WeChat Pay.

Reactions from Twitterverse

General reactions surrounding CBDC have been somewhat mixed.