• China second digital yuan lottery
    Cryptocurrencies,  Politics,  Regulation

    China launches second lottery to test digital yuan

    China’s central bank will repeat its $1.5 million “red envelope” central bank digital currency program in Suzhou, following the successful run in Shenzhen

    The Shenzhen test acted as both a stress test and a marketing initiative. The City government gave away $1.5 million to 50,000 randomly selected citizens, who each received 200 yuan—about $30—usable at any of the 4,000 merchants who accept the digital yuan. The Suzhou test will include important new features that did not factor into the Shenzhen trials, most notably the ability to pay while offline.

  • digital yuan work AliPay WeChat Pay
    Technology

    China’s digital yuan will not compete with AliPay or WeChat Pay

    Despite threatening an anti-trust investigation this summer, the head of China’s digital currency said it will co-exist with the two dominant mobile payment services

    Mu Changchun, the head of the research institute for digital currency at the People’s Bank of China, said that the central bank digital currency won’t compete with the two services, which together hold 94% of the market.

  • CBDC Google searches
    Politics,  Technology

    Central bank digital currencies capture public’s interest like Bitcoin, Libra

    Google searches about CBDCs have grown as fast in 2020 as Facebook’s Libra did last year and Bitcoin in late 2017/early 2018

    According to an Aug. 24 report from the Bank for International Settlements, “there is growing discussion of a new payment technology: central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).”

  • digital yuan coming to Beijing
    Cryptocurrencies,  Technology

    China’s digital yuan is coming to Beijing, Hong Kong

    The country announced a major expansion of its central bank digital currency test, taking it from four cities to the capital, economic engine Hong Kong, and several provinces including wealthy Guangdong

    China’s Commerce Ministry said on Aug. 14 that it is expanding its central bank digital currency experiment to the capital and some of the country’s wealthiest regions, the Wall Street Journal reported.