According to the governor of China's central bank, Yi Gang, the digital yuan has been used for transactions worth almost $250 billion since the start of its pilot program a year and a half ago. As of the end of June, the central bank digital currency had transacted 1.8 trillion yuan, with around 950 million transactions from 120 million wallets. However, the adoption of the digital yuan is still minimal relative to China's population, and only represents 0.16% of the country's monetary supply. The digital yuan has mostly been used for domestic retail payments, with a few trials in Hong Kong.

According to MI6 chief Richard Moore, artificial intelligence is unlikely to replace human intelligence gathering in the near future. While AI may overtake some aspects of human cognition, Moore believes that the "extraordinary bond" in human relationships is crucial to intelligence gathering.

Police in Qingshui County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province, China have successfully cracked a fraud case involving money laundering through the use of the virtual currency USDT. The operation resulted in the arrest of 21 suspects, the seizure of more than 40 mobile phones, and the confiscation of more than 200,000 yuan in cash and more than 1 million yuan worth of USDT.

China's Digital Yuan App has launched a new feature to address the challenge of offline payments – the SIM card hardware wallet. This is not the first time that the app has introduced features to address the issue of offline payments. Earlier this year, it released a feature that enabled some Android smartphones to make offline payments by partnering with select phone manufacturers.

The Russian Prosecutor-General has suggested that the central banks of Russia and China should work together on regulating their respective central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). This comes after the State Duma approved a bill allowing the Russian Central Bank to begin testing its digital ruble with 13 domestic commercial banks next month.

Elon Musk, the billionaire, believes that artificial general intelligence (AGI) will be the most significant event in human history and that it will occur after five years in the AI space.

According to a recent report by crypto intelligence provider K33 Research, China is home to 15% of Asia's crypto workforce, making it one of the largest crypto hubs on the continent. This is despite China's comprehensive ban on crypto trading and mining.

China's Cyberspace Administration (CAC) is considering new regulations for artificial intelligence (AI) development that would require local companies to obtain a license before releasing generative AI systems. The regulations are expected to be released at the end of this month and will include mandatory security reviews of AI-generated content.

Bitcoin remained stable above $30,000 on Monday as China's producer price index (PPI) data indicated that the global liquidity-tightening cycle, which began last year and affected cryptocurrencies, is coming to an end. China's PPI fell 5.4% YoY in June, the ninth consecutive monthly decline and the steepest drop in seven years, leading to deflationary pressures in the global economy.

July 3 (Cointime) - Jinan, China has announced that all of its bus lines now accept digital yuan payments, offering discounts to encourage adoption. The city has updated the software and card readers on all buses to allow payments using the Chinese central bank digital currency. Passengers paying with CBDC can enjoy a discount of up to 1 cent for bus rides – 1 cent for a fare of 2 yuan and below, and 1.99 yuan for each ticket of 2 yuan and above.