PBOC Reveals Central Bank Digital Currency Usage at Beijing Winter Olympics — 2 Million Digital Yuan per Day – Bitcoin News

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the Chinese central bank, has revealed how its central bank digital currency (CBDC) is being used at the Beijing Winter Olympics. A top PBOC official says, “It seems all the foreign users are using hardware wallets.”

Digital Yuan’s Latest Trial

A top official from the Chinese central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), provided an update of the latest trial of the Chinese central bank digital currency (CBDC) during a webinar arranged by the Atlantic Council Tuesday.

Beijing Winter Olympics is testing the digital yuan or eCNY.

According to Mu Changchun, director-general of the PBOC’s Digital Currency Research Institute, the Chinese CBDC is being used to make 2 million yuan ($315,000) or more of payments each day at the Olympics.

While admitting, “I have rough idea that (there are) several, or a couple of million RMB (yuan) of payments every day, but I don’t have exact numbers yet,” Mu said:

It seems all the foreign users are using hardware wallets … The software wallets are mainly used by the domestic users.

You can use the digital yuan to pay for mobile apps or eCNY payment cards. They look similar to credit cards with no magnetic strip.

Bank of China, a state-controlled commercial bank, has set up a number of digital yuan ATMs at some central venues at the Games, inside the “closed loop” of teams, officials, and organizers, the publication conveyed. These machines allow you to convert banknotes in foreign currencies into digital yuan and normal yuan.

In trial areas, the PBOC launched its digital yuan apps in Android and iOS stores on January 1. At the end of 2021, e-CNY was used by 261 million users. Transactions totalling 87.5 billion yuan (13.78 trillion dollars) had also been conducted using the Chinese central currency digital currency. Additionally, the Chinese central bank revealed that more than 8,000,000 merchants accept digital currency.

The digital yuan will be tested, in addition to the Winter Olympics. It is currently being used in several cities throughout China including Shenzhen and Suzhou.

Let us know your thoughts about the Winter Olympics’ digital yuan test. Comment below to let us know your thoughts.

Kevin Helms

Kevin is a graduate of Austrian Economics. He discovered Bitcoin in 2011, and has been an advocate ever since. His main interests are in Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects and intersections between cryptography and economy.