A man counts 100 RMB notes with a Chinese flag in the background.
Sheldon Cooper | Sopa Images | Lightrocket by Getty Images
GUANGZHOU, China – Chinese e-commerce company JD.com says it has become the country’s first online online platform to adopt digital currency.
The announcement on Saturday comes as part of another real-world trial for the digital yuan in the city of Suzhou, about 65 miles west of Shanghai.
JD Dotins ‘fintech arm will win a total of 20 million yuan ($ 3 million) in the lottery, according to JD Digits’ WeChat post. Winners will receive a so-called “red packet” through an application with a maximum of 200 yuan digital currency. Hundreds of thousands of these red packets will be distributed.
Those who receive digital yuan can spend on JD.com’s shopping online shopping platform.
This is not the first time that China has been offering large sums of its digital currency. In October, a lottery was awarded to citizens of China’s technology hub Shenzhen for a total of 10 million yuan.
The digital yuan, which is regulated and issued by the People’s Bank of China, is also known as the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The central bank calls its project Digital Currency Electronic Payments or DCEP, although it has been very strict about its development.
The central bank digital currency is the opposite of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or a Facebook-backed digital coin Libra. That is because they are regulated and issued by the central bank.
Bitcoin, which has recently hit record-high prices, is decentralized – meaning it is not controlled or issued by any unit.
Central banks are taking a closer look at digital currencies as they promise more efficient cross-border payments as well as facilities to move countries towards cashless societies.
BIS, a group of central banks, said earlier this year that 80% of the world’s central banks have begun to imagine and research the potential for CBDC.
Although China’s central bank appears to be the most progressive in the rollout of digital currencies compared to other major economies, it has soon closed the nationwide rollout and instead focused on pilot projects.
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