As we know, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) is rapidly gearing up to introduce the central bank's digital currency (e-CNY) to the market. Over the past two years, the PBoC has conducted several pilot tests.
However, now the central bank seems to have reached another important milestone to further push the use of e-CNY. Former Alibaba executive Yassin Regragui recently updated that Chinese people can now pay in e-CNY using their mobile phone with no internet and 0% battery.
He noted that with the recent update to the Digital Yuan app, locals can now pay without internet and even when their smartphone is turned off. The e-CNY application has introduced a new payment option that allows Chinese people to make offline payments using NFT technology.
The application, however, limits these types of payments to an amount of 500 RMB and a maximum volume of 10 transactions, staying within the parameters of the application for greater security. For now, this feature is only available for certain payment scenarios and limited geographic areas.
This is a first-of-its-kind innovation that will help achieve the PBoC's goal of greater financial inclusion and further push the use of the CBDC. Furthermore, it will also help the unbanked and the elderly to access cashless payments much easier.
China includes CBDC digital Yuan in its current circulation report
In its latest report on the amount of currency in circulation, the People's Bank of China, or PBoC, included the country's central bank digital currency (e-CNY). According to the financial statistics report for the year 2022, the PBoC reported a total of 13,61 billion digital yuan, worth about $2 billion.
Circulation of the central bank's digital currency grew by 15,3% in December 2022. On the other hand, China's money supply stands at 266,43 trillion yuan.
The PBoC further added that the digital Yuan has not caused any notable changes in its growth rates. The 13,61 billion e-CNY in circulation represents just 0,13% of the 10,47 trillion yuan in circulation at the end of 2022.
As we know, China was one of the first major economies to promote the use of CBDCs. China first launched pilot tests of e-CNY for select regions and, in February 2022, made it available for use by foreign athletes at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
However, the use of the e-CNY has caught on as envisaged by the PBoC in the early stages of its release, also thanks to the trading available on licensed platforms such as Bitcoin Pro. But the latest feature of offline transactions could provide the fuel needed for e-CNY to pick up speed in adoption.
