Shenzhen Giving Away Millions in Digital Yuan in Lottery to Boost Consumption, Test Tech: Report

The rapidly growing city of Shenzhen will be giving away 10 million yuan (US$1.47 million) of China’s new sovereign digital money via lottery, as China seeks to test out and stimulate the usage of the digital funds, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.

• Winners will be announced on Sunday and the currency can be used at 3,389 shops. They can't be transferred or moved into a regular bank account, the report said.
• The promotion is part of China's plan to move solely to digital currency, known as the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP).
• The new currency has been used in more than a billion yuan worth of transactions across the country n a series of test programs over the past 12 months.