Digital currency has 50,000 users, 5,000 merchants: RBI Deputy Governor

The recently launched retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot has 50,000 users and 5,000 merchants, the RBI said on Wednesday.

“We want the process to happen, but we want the process to happen gradually and slowly. We are in no hurry to make something happen so quickly,” Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said at the post-policy press conference here.

“We have our targets in terms of users, in terms of merchants. We will go slowly,” he added.

The RBI does not want to end up in a situation where it does something without actually understanding the likely impact or would always be desiring to be in a position where it can manage the fallout, Sankar said.