Chinese officials continue to disseminate CBDC, handing out $2.3 million to Shenzhen’s Futian neighbourhood inhabitants.
Shenzhen’s Futian neighbourhood residents are expected to receive 15 million yuan ($2.3 million) in e-CNY from Chinese officials. The action intends to increase CBDC acceptance and market the financial product to the general public in China.
China’s CBDC Efforts of Late:
The government of the world’s most populous country has an altogether different approach to central bank digital currencies than it does to digital assets (CBDC). The authorities have initiated various measures in the last year to popularise the digital representation of national money.
According to Global Times, the latest such initiative included the distribution of almost $2 million in digital yuan to inhabitants of Futian (China’s third-largest city – Shenzhen’s key business area).
The e-CNY will be divided into 130,000 red packets and distributed through a lottery system utilizing WeChat payment. Residents can participate in the lottery by completing an application on the latter’s website. They will later be able to use the financial product at almost 5,000 establishments within the district without making a minimum transaction.
Shenzhen’s government is not the first to deliver digital yuan to the city’s residents. They distributed 10 million yuan (about $1.5 million) in e-CNY in 2020.
Soon after, the effort was expanded to Chengdu and Beijing, China’s capital. The Chinese CBDC was worth $4.6 million to the inhabitants of the former, while it was worth $6.2 million to the people of the latter.
Gradual Expansion of the Digital Yuan:
By the end of 2021, the number of Chinese who had opened digital yuan wallets had surpassed 140 million, accounting for almost 10% of the population. The product’s popularity grew even further, with over 260 million people interested by the start of 2022.
Some well-known local businesses even accepted CBDC as a form of payment. JD.com, for example, enabled users to use it for settlements during the Singles Day shopping extravaganza (November 11).
WeChat, China’s most popular messaging app, has also made it possible for its users to conduct e-CNY transactions. The service is now accessible in all of the product’s testing zones, including Beijing and Shanghai.
Furthermore, during the Beijing Olympic Games in February, Chinese officials allowed international tourists and athletes to use the CBDC.
