Growing number of countries piloting digital currencies
Those already launched have seen usage finally pick up
China could fully launch eCNY next year, U.S. lagging

LONDON, Sept 17 Reuters A total of 134 countries representing 98 of the global economy are now exploring digital versions of their currencies, with almost half at an advanced stage and pioneers like China, the Bahamas and Nigeria starting to see a pick up in usage.

The research by the U.S.based Atlantic Council thinktank published on Tuesday showed that all G20 nations are now looking into central bank digital currencies CBDCs as they are known and that 44 countries in total are piloting them.

That is up from 36 a year ago and is part of a global push by authorities to respond to declining cash usage and the threat to their moneyprinting powers from the likes of bitcoin and 39;Big Tech39;.

The Atlantic Council39;s Josh Lipsky and Ananya Kumar said one of the most noteable developments this year has been the sizable increase in the Bahamas, Jamaica and Nigeria39;s CBDCs, the only three countries that have already launched them.

China too, which is running the world39;s largest pilot scheme, has seen use of its protype eCNY nearly quadruple to 7 trillion yuan 987 billion of transactions according to officials.

There has been a narrative that the countries that have launched CBDCs have seen low or no usage, but in the last months we have seen a real uptake, Lipsky said.

My predication is that the PBOC…