More than 420,000 merchants in the Chinese city of Changsha now accept payments in the digital yuan, China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). This figure has increased from 300,000 merchants in February this year, and the city claims the figure only comprises bricks-and-mortar businesses. The city also stated that 22 million personal CBDC wallets and 800,000 “public” wallets have been opened in the city since the pilot began, with a total of 62 million transactions made, valued at over $1.4 billion. The PBoC has begun cross-border pilots with Hong Kong and Macau, which could allow the digital yuan to find usage cases in international markets.

(By Tim Alper)