Shenzhen authorities will conduct a pilot program that will distribute 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) to encourage the use of digital currency in society. The program is conducted in cooperation with the country's central bank, Sina Finance reports.
The project will be funded by the Luohu County Administration. The distribution of 10 million yuan will be carried out in a lottery format with 50,000 winners. From today on, the registration process is open for Shenzhen residents. The lottery will be conducted by Shenzhen Municipal Cyberspace Administration.
Winners will be given an opportunity to activate digital currency wallets. The amount of each "gift certificate" will be 200 yuan ($30). They can be spent from October 12 to 18 in any of the supporting 3 389 outlets in Luohu.
The money received in this way cannot be transferred to another person or transferred to your own bank account. Unspent funds will be written off from wallets of the program participants after October 18.
Earlier it became known that the People's Bank of China processed transactions for 1.1 billion yuan ($ 162 million) as part of testing its digital currency. According to deputy chairman Fang Yifei, currently testing is carried out in major cities, including Shenzhen and Hunan. He assessed the current progress as "positive". In addition, the digital yuan will be used at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, he said.