Twenty million yuan ($ 3 million) in China’s central bank digital currency will be given to 100,000 people in the country’s largest test of the digital yuan to date. The digital currency is accepted in 100,000 stores, including JD.com, one of China’s largest online retailers.
$ 3 Million at Digital Yuan Giveaway
The Chinese city of Suzhou, which is west of Shanghai, is said to be preparing to distribute 20 million yuan in the country’s central bank (CBDC) digital currency to 100,000 residents, according to a statement posted Friday by the Suzhou city government. The digital yuan is officially known as Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP). The South China Morning Post detailed:
A total of 100,000 digital red kits, each containing 200 yuan, will be distributed to residents on Dec. 11, which is the night before the Double Twelve shopping festival. They will be valid until December 27.
“Any Chinese citizen living in the eastern city can register for the lottery through Suzhoudao, the city’s official public services app,” the announcement added. Lottery winners will receive the red packs through the official Renminbi Digital App.
A few hundred yuan digital gift recipients will also become the first to use what the central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), calls “dual offline wallets.” This allows them to use the digital yuan to pay for goods in stores without having to connect to the internet, “effectively replacing notes and coins with the digital yuan,” the news outlet tweeted.
About 10,000 stores will participate in Suzhou’s digital yuan trial. This includes JD.com which claims to be the largest online retailer in China. The company announced on Saturday that it had become China’s first online platform to receive the digital currency with PBOC support, Reuters reported. JD.com’s fintech arm, JD Digits, will receive the digital yuan as payment for some products on its online outlet, a post on the company’s official Wechat account details.
Suzhou’s digital yuan symphony follows similar donations in Shenzhen where the first large-scale public trial of the PBOC-supported digital currency took place in October. Ten million yuan was attracted to 50,000 Shenzhen residents and 3,389 stores participated.
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