China’s Fujian Province Processed $22 Billion in Digital Yuan – Are CBDCs Taking Over?

Residents and businesses based in China’s Fujian province have reportedly processed nearly $22 billion in digital transactions in yuan so far – as the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) continues to pick up speed.

The province was added to the CBDC pilot area last year. And he led the way in October when he struck the country’s first digital yuan-powered land transfer deal.

According to Fujin News, official figures from the province show that citizens’ business spending on digital yuan has reached the $14.5 million mark. He also explained that he – and his partners – gave away nearly $9 million worth of yuan digital tokens at promotional events.

A combined total of 2,572 merchants and vendors in the province are now accepting digital payments in yuan, the outlet added. This number includes toll booths on the Fuxia (Fujian-Xiamen) Expressway – a major expressway network that crosses the province.

A growing number of toll booths in China now allow drivers to use the CBDC to pay highway fees.

And the province said e-CNY “tax payment points” have been set up in unstaffed “electronic tax offices” and banks across the region.

He said citizens and businesses have used these and other solutions to pay $254 million in taxes over the past 12 months.

And since the first e-CNY powered land deal in October, an additional 74 properties have been exchanged for digital yuan.

Chinese Fujian Processes Nearly $22 Billion in Digital Yuan – What Are Its Future Plans?

Fujian said that in November last year, the province began providing yuan-denominated digital relief loans to local businesses. It also uses the token to purchase carbon sinks as part of environmental improvement efforts.

The province claimed it had overseen 14,700 e-CNY carbon sink payments since the program began.

Going forward, Fujian said it will seek to make more progress with the adoption of the digital yuan. The province said it would “focus on” using the CBDC in “smart contracts and supply chain finance.”

The central bank, meanwhile, hopes the token will prove itself in ongoing “cross-border” pilots in Macau and Hong Kong.