TL;DR Breakdown
- China’s e-CNY wallet is breaking records by attracting massive downloads days after launch.
- The increased wallet download has influenced the increase in digital yuan usage in the country.
China’s new digital yuan wallet is reporting massive downloads each day. As of now, it is among the most downloaded applications in the history of China. The wallet’s flexibility and interoperability with other applications are also causing a surge in the trading volume of the e-CNY.
The e-CNY wallet attracts massive downloads
A week after the public release of the digital yuan wallet, it attracted about 16 million downloads and ranked among the top applications. It dominated both Android and iOS stores in China. It also ranked as the most downloaded financial application in these app stores.
Per data from Qimai, the application had two million Apple downloads within its first week. Data providers Kuchuan also reported over 14 million Android downloads in the same timeline.
The e-CNY application is available for download in both Apple and Android stores: however, it has geographical restrictions to several cities. According to the PBoC, the wallet is still in a testing phase, making it unsafe for mass adoption before the tests are over. The bank has confirmed that the application can only operate in a dozen cities for now.
China prepares for the official launch of the digital Yuan in February
China started chasing its dream to transform into a cashless community in 2014 with the research on their CBDC. The research and development have cost the country about seven years, but the results are worth the wait. The Digital Yuan ranks as the most developed CBDC that has been offered a significant economy yet.
The rollout of the wallets prepares the stage for the country to release the e-CNY this February. The country plans to have a fully operational digital yuan capability ahead of the February winter Olympics starting on February 4, 2021. It targets introducing visitors to the coin but will facilitate its usage without a banking account.
The wallet has an interoperable design with applications like Wechat pay and Alipay, accounting for about 90% of digital payments in the country. It is also available in the seven leading banks working with the PBoC to develop it.
Per a report by PBoC, over 140 million citizens had opened e-CNY trading accounts by the end of last October. Its report also revealed that the total trading volume of the digital Yuan in its pilot phase had reached $10 B in the same timeline. These impressive statistics could be due to the September blanket ban of all cryptocurrencies favoring the e-CNY.
Per reports, the Chinese government is racing to launch the coin officially in the set timeline. It also has institutional backing as many firms have confessed that the usage of the digital Yuan has been spiking lately and promoting their operations. This coin is worth watching since it is among the premiere CBDCs and may benchmark other countries.
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