In what is seen as the first public test of the country’s official digital currency, China’s central bank and the municipal government of the southern tech hub Shenzhen have finished handing out “digital yuan red packets” totaling RMB 10 million (USD 1.49 million), said local news outlet Xinhua.
The campaign started three days ago. Interested local citizens had to download and register for the trial on the iShenZhen app. As of Monday morning, 50,000 lucky citizens were given the handouts, each worth RMB 200 (USD 29.77).
The digital yuan needs to be consumed at 3,389 selected shops in the city in the following week.
China started working on its sovereign digital yuan in 2014. Officially known as China’s Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), the currency will be used to simulate everyday banking activities including payments, deposits, and withdrawals from a digital wallet.
Read this: Will China’s digital yuan pose a threat to the country’s fintech giants?
This article is part of KrASIA’s “Key Stat” series, where KrASIA picks and presents the most significant figures of the day’s technology and business world.