The Chinese government has issued digital currency worth 10 million-yuan to randomly selected customers as part of its public testing of a digital yuan payment, media reports said.
The move comes at a time when the world’s second-largest economy seeks to develop a cashless future, as well as to fend off potential competition from privately issued cryptocurrencies.
But Flex Yang, the founder and CEO of the crypto finance firm Babel Finance, told the media, “Technology alone doesn’t automatically earn digital yuan global acceptance. It depends on whether other countries are willing to accept the digital yuan payment system. It’s a political issue, not a technological one. We look forward to its future development as it is still in the early stage.”
The digital currency is not a cryptocurrency like bitcoin and will not replace digital wallets such as Alipay.
It is reported that People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has carried out the programme in Shenzhen where selected people were invited to take part in the programme through China’s big four banks. The application for the draw was flooded with nearly 2 million applicants. However, only a selected number of people will win a 200-yuan red envelope through a lottery.
The winners of the programme will be notified through email or text and can download a digital renminbi app to collect the digital yuan. Furthermore, they can use the digital currency at over 3.000 merchants in a particular district of Shenzhen. Other merchants for the currency include local supermarkets, pharmacies and Walmart.
