China’s central bank digital currency, also known as Digital Currency Electronic Payments (DCEP), has conducted 4 million transactions in its testing stage. The transactions involved 2 billion yuan, which equals $300 million. The governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), Yi Gang, revealed the development.
The governor mentioned the transaction on the 2nd of November, during the Hong Kong Fintech Week virtual event. He also said that the transactions have been going on successfully in four cities in China.
Noting that China’s DC/EP is at its early stage, Yi added that it still needs an improved and transparent legal framework.
China has been making significant efforts towards the creation of its digital currency. Already, major commercial banks in the country have begun tests for the digital currency. State-owned banks are testing DC/EP among merchants in four regions. The regions are Chengdu, Suzhou, Shenzhen, and Xiong’An.
In the ongoing testing stages, the local government in Shenzhen carried out a larger scale of tests. The local government gave out $1.5 million in digital currency to 50,000 local residents.
In October, PBoC revealed plans to expand the digital yuan testing ahead of the Winter Olympics in 2022. The central bank also has plans to stretch its testing to 28 other cities in the country.
