Chinese online retail platform JD.com reported 400 million yuan (US$60 million) in digital yuan sales at the “618” shopping festival, accounting for about 0.1% of the event’s total sales.
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Fast facts
- China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan or e-CNY, started pilot trials in Shenzhen in October 2020 and has since expanded to 23 cities.
- The 618 festival saw an estimated 379 billion yuan in sales this year.
- Digital yuan transactions at the festival — which starts on June 1 and concludes on June 18, the day of the company’s founding — exceeded CBDC sales volume recorded by the retailer between December 2020 and May 2022, JD.com fintech arm JD Technology (JDT) said.
- JD.com’s total sales during the shopping festival rose 10.3%, well below the 27.7% increase in 2021’s celebration, which was the slowest pace of growth recorded by JD.com, according to Reuters.
- China’s retail sales in May slumped 6.7% from a year ago.
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