China Organizes $1.5 Million Lottery Distributing Free “Digital Yuan”

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Last Updated on 14 October 2020 by CryptoTips.eu

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Some 2 million Chinese living in Shenzen have signed up to receive “red packets” containing 200 yuan ($30) in “digital yuan”. Officials had announced the plan to distribute the money just before “golden week” a fortnight ago, and it immediately proved very popular. By handing out “free” digital money to ordinary citizens in a lottery styled trial, the Shenzen government might have cracked the question that was plaguing the Beijing ministry of finance: how do we get the Chinese masses into cryptocurrency?

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Digital Yuan

The People’s Bank of China’s digital yuan is already an incredibly advanced stage of development, compared to other major economies who are thinking of offering a similar digital currency.

After having communicated impressive operational figures for its first tests, the authorities are now offering, via a lottery in Shenzen, digital yuan to test their Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DC / EP) system.

Those digital yuan will however need to be spent quickly. The lucky winners will only have one week to use them, in one of the 3,389 stores selected by the city authorities.

In this manner the Chinese government hopes that the participants tell about their experience online, and this has indeed already happened, as several posts on the popular blogging site Weibo prove. One woman from Shenzen said:

my biggest hope is to get the 200 yuan, as I want to go shopping.

There were some wondering on social media as to how senior citizens and children could use the digital currency. In order to be able to spend the cryptocurrency, Chinese users need an e-wallet which can be obtained via the official Digital Renminbi App. This last one is currently not available for public download, only for state employees.

Still some minor faults which need to be ironed out apparently.