China's largest retailer JD.com has started accepting digital yuan for payments during Singles Day, CNBC reports. According to the company, over 100,000 people used digital yuan (also known as e-CNY) via its app during the Singles Day promotion period. However, given the experimental status of the digital currency, users could only spend $2.34 in the digital form.
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to stay up to date on the latest crypto and blockchain news.
The move comes after Reuters reported that a total of 140 million wallets for using China's digital yuan had been registered as of October with transaction's volume hitting $9.5 billion. According to Mu Changchun, the director-general of the digital currency institute of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), approximately 1.55 million merchants can now accept digital yuan using the e-CNY wallets.
Meanwhile, Yin Yuping, deputy head of the Financial Services Consumer Protection Department at the PBOC, urged citizens to protect their pockets as bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) is not considered as legal tender in China and has no real value. According to Yuping, cryptocurrency transactions are pure speculation, so people should "stay away" from this type of assets.
Access more than 50 of the world's financial markets directly from your EXANTE account – including NASDAQ, London Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange.