The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has listed the “orderly expansion of the scope of the digital yuan pilot” as one of its key tasks in the second half of the year, according to a Tuesday press release from the Chinese central bank’s second-half-year work plan.
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Fast facts
- This is the second time the People’s Bank of China has mentioned the expansion of the digital yuan pilot program in a month.
- In a press conference on July 13, Zou Lan, director of the Monetary Policy Department of the central bank, said the scope of the digital yuan pilot will be expanded at an orderly pace.
- China has seen more than 264 million yuan digital yuan transactions, with a total volume topping 83 billion yuan (about US$12.3 billion) as of May 31 in the year of 2022, the central bank revealed.
- The country debuted its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan, in four cities and Winter Olympics venues in October 2020, then added six more pilot cities in November 2020.
- In April 2022, the PBoC announced it will add 11 more cities to join the pilot list, and now the digital yuan is available in 23 cities across the country.
- In addition to giving out digital yuan to promote its use in retail payments, China is also pushing the CBDC expansion to uses including taxation, medical care, public transportation, and loans.
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