Close to 2 million people have registered to be a part of a lottery program organized by Shenzhen authorities to give out $1.5 million worth of China’s Digital Yuan. The authorities had packaged the lottery in the age-long traditional method of red gift envelopes, which were always used, especially during special occasions and holidays.
The lottery had seen 1.91 million citizens register for the event, but less than 3% of them would be able to win 50,000 “red envelopes” that contains $200 of China’s digital yuan.
The currency has been designed to be spent at nearly 4000 specified stores in the city.
Also, to enjoy this service, lottery winners are expected to have installed a recognized digital application called the Renminbi application on their devices. It is through this application that they would be receiving the virtual money. However, this mobile application is presently not available to the public.
China’s Digital Yuan designed to increase spending
The Internet information office of the city of Shenzhen also made it known that the currency was designed to influence consumers’ spending, which in the long run would aid the recovery plan of the Chinese government from the economic downturn experienced because of the coronavirus.
Unlike Bitcoin, the coin is issued by the Chinese government bank, the People’s Bank of China. It is part of a broad plan by the country’s government to ensure that the country operates a cashless policy. And keeping with the state’s policy in keeping tabs on its citizens, they believe that the digital currency could easily be kept an eye on than physical cash or other virtual currencies like Bitcoin.
The Asian giant, China, already has a strong digital payment system as technological organizations like retail Behemoth, Alipay, and producer of WeChat, Tencent, currently running an increasingly efficient digital payment platform that is depended on by the citizens of the country.
