China’s digital currency is making $300k a day during Olympics, PBOC states

What

China’s digital currency, the e-CNY, is being used to make two million yuan ($315,761) or more of payments a day in its latest pilot at the Beijing Winter Olympics

Why

The data was provided during a webinar hosted by the Atlantic Council, which marks a significant contribution since the Chinese CBDC was first launched in April 2020

What next

No breakdown has yet been made on the share of transactions being made by Chinese nationals and international attendees

The story

China’s digital currency, the e-CNY, is being used to make two million yuan ($315,761) or more of payments a day in its latest pilot at the Beijing Winter Olympics, according to a top official from the Chinese central bank (PBOC).

Its latest trial is notable for the number of people attending the Games, and the fact that athletes, coaches, and media from around the world can all use it via smartphone apps, physical payment cards or wristbands.

PBoC’s Digital Currency Research Institute director-general Mu Changchun provided the data during a webinar hosted by the Atlantic Council.

“I have a rough idea that there are several or a couple of million digital yuan of payments every day, but I don’t have exact numbers yet,” Mu said, adding that there was no breakdown yet of the number of transactions made by Chinese nationals and foreign attendees.

Despite pushing CBDC adoption, China has been very vocal about its anti-cryptocurrency stance, halting all crypto transactions in September of last year, leaving as many as two million crypto mining hardware stranded in its former mining hub, Sichuan.