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According to Fujin News, consumers and companies in China’s Fujian Province have processed digital yuan transactions worth about $22 billion, reflecting the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative’s quick success.
It also comes as the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has prohibited the usage of other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The claims come after three Chinese provinces revealed their desire to deliver digital yuan (e-CNY) to residents in the form of “red packets” worth roughly 90 million yuan in 2022.
Last year, Fujian Province was designated as a CBDC pilot zone, and in October, it completed China’s first digital yuan-powered land transfer transaction.
According to provincial data, individuals spent more than $14.5 million on digital yuan transactions, and approximately $9 million in digital yuan tokens were awarded during promotional events hosted by the province and its partners.
According to the news site, 2,572 vendors and retailers in Fujian Province now accept digital yuan payments, including toll booths on the Fuxia (Fujian-Xiamen) Expressway, a vital network of motorways that runs through the province.
Chinese toll booths are increasingly allowing cars to pay highway fees using the country’s CBDC.
The province announced the installation of e-CNY “tax payment stations” in unmanned “electronic tax bureaus” and banks around the region. It revealed that individuals and corporations used these and other payment alternatives to pay $254 million in taxes in the previous year.
Furthermore, 74 properties have been traded using digital yuan since the first e-CNY-powered land transaction in October.
According to Fujian, in November of last year, the province began offering digital yuan alleviation loans to local businesses. It has also used digital money to purchase carbon sinks for environmental improvement programs.
Since the program’s inception, Fujian has completed 14,700 e-CNY payments for carbon sinks.
More: Chinese localities give out $26.6 million in Digital Yuan to encourage adoption
According to the Global Times, during the 2023 Spring Festival holidays, around 200 activities were arranged, and roughly 180 million Digital Yuan (e-CNY) were issued as subsidies and consumption coupons in various Chinese cities. The total amount of e-CNY distributed was more than $26.6 million.
Each citizen in Hangzhou received an e-CNY coupon worth 80 Yuan ($12). In addition, the city set up 4 million Yuan (about $590,000) to stimulate holiday expenditure.
Fujian has said that it intends to accelerate the deployment of the digital yuan in the future. The government intends to use the CBDC primarily for “smart contracts and supply chain finance.”
Meanwhile, the central bank hopes to demonstrate the capabilities of digital currency in ongoing cross-border trials in Macau and Hong Kong.
However, other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, have been prohibited in mainland China since 2021. After China’s prohibition, more than $50 billion in bitcoin was transferred from East Asian accounts to accounts outside the area, according to Chainalysis.
