Economic Information Daily, an affiliate newspaper of Xinhua News Agency, published an opinion piece Thursday proposing ways to accelerate the adoption of the digital yuan.
The editorial stated that local governments should increase their expenditures to promote the pilot.
It noted that state-owned entities should take the lead in implementing e-CNY.
Additionally, the op ed advises spreading the digital yuan to more businesses, particularly e-commerce platforms, and launching additional public awareness efforts for the CBDC.
The central bank should work on the digital yuan’s rights and obligations while law on the initiative is being drafted, the op-ed noted.
China’s CBDC — the digital yuan, or e-CNY — began trials in Shenzhen in October 2020 and reached a transaction volume of 87.565 billion yuan (US$11.238 billion) by the end of 2021; the pilot programme was recently expanded to 23 Chinese cities.
Nonetheless, the central bank stated in April that the project faces difficulties in terms of convenience, inclusiveness, creativity, security, compliance, and sustainability, all of which require more investigation and resolution.
According to data provided at the end of last year, the average amount transferred by each personal digital yuan wallet is 335.5 yuan (US$52.66), or 1.4 percent of Chinese households’ average yearly expenditure in 2021.
The actual average transfer volume may be significantly lower when institutional/business wallet transactions are excluded.
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
