- China celebrates the Lunar New Year with special digital hongbaos.
- Many residents across the nation received the country’s Digital Yuan as a gift.
- The country gave away millions to boost mass adoption of the Digital Yuan.
China has made great strides to use the ideology behind cryptocurrency to their nation. In another massive bid to push the adoption of its national cryptocurrency, the Digital Yuan, China breaks headlines again.
In detail, The Chinese government has launched over 200 initiatives during the Lunar New Year to promote the use of its digital currency, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or e-CNY. Indeed, it looks like the residents of China had a great start to the year with special ‘hongbaos’.
To highlight, these initiatives include giving out subsidies and consumption coupons worth over $26.5 million in multiple cities. To specify, the Shenzhen local government gave out $14.7 million worth of e-CNY to subsidize the catering industry in the city.
Adding on, the e-CNY given away by the Hangzhou city government was taken up by residents within nine seconds, according to data from Meituan. As a starting mark, the Chinese government has set a target of $300 billion worth of e-CNY transactions in Suzhou city by the end of 2023.
Finally, the e-CNY wallet app also introduced the ability to send ‘red packets’ and make contactless payments using Android phones. Despite these efforts, a former central banker called the results of e-CNY trials “not ideal” and said usage has been low and inactive.
Thus, China is still likely to push a lot more initiatives within its borders to push the use, adoption, and acceptance of the Digital Yuan. Clearly, mass adoption of the Digital Yuan is the country’s end goal.
This venture has been a long haul for the Chinese government. Looking back to 2022, the country gave 15 million Digital Yuan to the residents of Shenzhen. One will have to wait and see what other initiatives China will have to take before the Digital Yuan becomes the norm for payment transactions in China.
