The currency has been traded by 98 percent of nations and territories around the world, People's Daily reported on Monday.

At least 8.6 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) has been settled with 220 nations and territories from July, 2009, when China first piloted yuan-denominated trade settlement, to the end of September this year, the newspaper quoted an official with the Ministry of Commerce as saying.

Of this, 3.16 trillion was traded in the January-to-September period this year, signaling that the redback has already turned itself into one of the world's major trade currencies, according to the Beijing-based newspaper.

Apart from trade, the yuan broadened its investment use following a pilot program in January 2011. In the first nine months of this year, outbound yuan investment jumped 136.7 percent to 52.31 billion yuan. Inbound investment in the currency also grew 81.4 percent to 280.27 billion yuan.