95% of winners in China’s CBDC lottery spent digital yuan prizes

Published at: Oct. 19, 2020

The vast majority of China’s $1.5 million digital yuan lottery winners have received and spent their “red envelopes” of digital yuan.

As of Sunday, a total of 47,573 out of 50,000 lottery winners in China have received their prizes, Shenzhen authorities officially announced.

According to the announcement, the winners conducted a total of 62,788 transactions accounting for 8.8 million yuan ($1.3 million). This amount represents about 88% of the total 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) that was to be distributed in the giveaway pilot in Shenzhen.

Some winners have not only spent their “red envelopes” but also topped up their wallets, having purchased an additional 901,000 yuan ($134,000).

Shenzhen launched a pilot program to promote the digital yuan with a public giveaway on Oct. 9. Lottery organizers said they would take back the unused amount of the digital yuan packets if winners did not spend it by Sunday

As previously reported, a total of 2 million people applied to participate in Shenzhen’s digital yuan giveaway program as of Oct. 12.

China’s central bank digital currency — the digital yuan — began testing in April. Pilots were subsequently expanded to nine cities, including Shenzhen and Guangzhou as well as Hong Kong and Macau.

Tags
Related Posts
China’s blockchain project BSN to pilot global CBDC system in 2021
The Chinese national blockchain project, the Blockchain Service Network, is planning to pilot integration with global central bank digital currencies. According to a Jan. 15 blog post, the BSN is looking to build a universal digital payment network, or UDPN, based on CBDCs of various countries as part of its 2021 roadmap. Currently at the design stage, the beta version of UDPN is expected to launch in the second half of 2021. The BSN plans to complete the UDPN development in five years. With the UDPN, BSN aims to enable a standardized digital currency transfer method and payment procedure. The …
Technology / Jan. 15, 2021
Starbucks and McDonald’s reportedly not testing China’s digital yuan
American fast-food giants like Starbucks and McDonald’s are reportedly not participating in China’s ongoing digital yuan tests. According to an Oct. 14 report by news agency Sina Finance, China’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC, is still being piloted on a “small scale,” primarily involving the retail and catering industry. As reported, a number of foreign merchants, which were rumored to be part of China’s CBDC tests, are actually not using the digital yuan for payment so far. Xiong’an, one of the major Chinese cities piloting the digital yuan, reportedly had 19 companies involved in its CBDC pilot, including Starbucks, …
Technology / Oct. 14, 2020
Hardware wallet for digital yuan debuts in Xiong’an New Area
A Chinese banking institution has completed the development of a hardware wallet for the country’s central bank digital currency, the digital yuan According to a Feb. 7 announcement by Xiong’an authorities, the Xiong’an branch of the Agricultural Bank of China in Hebei has produced the first hardware wallet designed for the digital yuan. The product was developed by the Party Working Committee of the Xiongan New Area and the People’s Bank of China branch in Shijiazhuang. New areas in China are urban districts that are provided special economic support by the central government. They are divided into state, provincial and …
Technology / Feb. 8, 2021
Sweden is studying a potential transition to the e-krona CBDC
The Swedish government is progressing with its central bank digital currency, or CBDC, by launching a formal review of a potential transition to the digital currency. According to a Bloomberg report published Friday, the review will explore the feasibility of moving the country's payments infrastructure to a digital currency. The country features one of the most cashless economies in the world. Sweden’s financial markets minister, Per Bolund, reportedly said that the government expects to complete the digital currency review by the end of November 2022. Anna Kinberg Batra — a former chairwoman of the finance committee at Sweden’s central bank, …
Technology / Dec. 11, 2020
Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Area to Launch China’s Digital Yuan
China’s digital yuan, also known as the digital currency electronic payment, or DCEP project, will be rolled out for testing at Hong Kong’s Greater Bay Area in the coming weeks, local news agency the Southern Daily reports on Aug. 12. The Greater Bay Area, or GBA, is a megapolis consisting of nine cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, as well as Hong Kong, and Macau. A major financial and tech hub in Asia, the GBA has a combined population of over 69 million people and GDP of around $1.5 trillion. He Xiaojun, director of the Local Financial Supervision Administration Bureau of Guangdong …
Technology / Aug. 12, 2020