The Chinese government has initiated various pilot projects for central bank digital currency or digital yuan. The latest plan is to present a giveaway of $3 million (20 million yuan) in the Chinese city of Suzhou.

According to the government’s official blog post, the residents of Suzhou will be able to get eligible for a 20 million giveaway in Chinese yuan.

To register themselves for airdrop, the citizens will have to enroll between December 5 and 6, the winners will reward with 200 yuan ($30) in CBDC or DC/EP. The results of winners will be announced on December 11, which was set because it will be then followed by the Chinese shopping event normally occurs on December 12.

Shopping Festival

The shopping event, known as Double 12, is the largest shopping festival that happens every year, and it is similar to Black Friday, which is popular in the US. It is reported in 2019 that online shopping platform Alibaba made nearly $38 billion in just one day. According to the official’s announcement:

“Double 12 Suzhou Shopping Festival” digital renminbi consumption red envelopes are issued in the form of “lottery drawing”. The lottery registration channel will be officially opened at 0:00 on December 5, 2020 and will last until 24:00 on December 6.”

It is an opportunity for 10.7 million citizens of Suzhou to avail $30 in Chinese state cryptocurrency as a result of a lottery introduced by the government of Suzhou. Per the blog post, the residents can use these digital yuan till 27 December at shopping centers supported by the crypto project.

Last month, the Chinese government launched an airdrop of $1.5 million in Shenzhen, which benefitted nearly 50 million citizens of the city. The holders of the digital currency were eligible to purchase things at 3,000 local stores in Shenzhen. The pilot project of the Chinese central bank is now mainly focused on some cities, including Suzhou, Xiong’An, Chengdu, and Shenzhen.

When the first wave of the Coronavirus was at its peak, the World Health Organization recommended contactless payment methods. As the Chinese government is moving towards a digital payment system, the WHO has praised the initiative as it has helped in a fight against the COVID-19.

Market analysts believe governments should accept digital currency as soon as possible as leaders in this sector may dominate the entire global economy.