- Via NFC technology, Chinese users the Digital Yuan app will allow Chinese users without the internet.
- This could help boost the use of e-CNY which is facing major adoption challenges within three years of launch.
As we know, the Chinese central bank – People’s Bank of China (PBoC) – has been gearing up fast to bring the central bank’s digital currency (e-CNY) into the market. Over the past year and two, the PBoC has conducted several pilot tests.
However, the central bank now seems to have achieved another major breakthrough to push further the use of e-CNY. Ex-Alibaba executive Yassin Regragui recently updated that Chinese locals can now pay in e-CNY using their mobile without internet as well with 0% battery.
He noted that with the recent Digital Yuan app update, locals can now pay without the internet and even when the smartphone is off. The e-CNY app has introduced a new payment option that allows Chinese locals to make offline payments using NFT technology.
The app, however, restricts such kinds of payments to the payment amount of 500 RMB and a volume of up to 10 transactions while staying within the app parameters for better security. For now, this feature is available only to certain payment scenarios and limited geographies. Another smart way can be to join the yuan pay group.
This is one-of-its-kind hard wallet innovation that will ultimately cater to PBoC’s goal of greater financial inclusion while pushing further the use of its CBDC. Additionally, it will also help the unbanked and the elderly generation get access to cashless payments in a much simpler way.
China Includes CBDC Digital Yuan In Its Current Circulation Report
In the latest report mentioning the amount of currency in circulation, the People’s Bank of China, or PBoC has included the country’s central bank digital currency (e-CNY). As per the financial statistics report for the year 2022, the PBoC said that there was a total of 13.61 billion digital yuan — worth roughly $2 billion.
The circulation of the central bank’s digital currency has grown by 15.3 percent during the month of December 2022. On the other hand, China’s broad money supply for China stands at 266.43 trillion yuan.
The PBoC further added that the Digital Yuan hasn’t caused much notable changes to its growth rates. The 13.61 billion e-CNY in circulation represents only 0.13 percent of the 10.47 trillion yuan in circulation at the end of 2022.
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As we know, China has been one of the first major economies to push forward the use of CBDC. China first started pilot testing of e-CNY for selected regions and also made it available for use to foreign athletes at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in February 2022.
However, the use of e-CNY has picked up pace as expected by PBoC in the earlier stages of its release. But the latest functionality of offline transactions might provide the necessary fuel for e-CNY to catch speed in adoption.
