China hands out $1.5m of digital currency in cashless society trial
- Authorities in Shenzhen, southern China, have handed out $1.5 million of a new digital currency as part of a trial of a cashless society.
- Last Friday authorities gave 50,000 lottery winners the equivalent of $30 each to spend digitally by October 16, the state-run China Daily reported Monday.
- The digital currency is not like a cryptocurrency, and is issued and controlled by China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China.
- The PBoC said it plans to formally launch the digital payment system in late 2020, according to the BBC.
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A Chinese city has handed out 10 million yuan, or $1.5 million, in digital currency to trial what citizens would do in a cashless society.
On Friday, 50,000 people living in the Luhou district of Shenzhen were given digital “red envelopes,” each containing around 200 yuan ($30) worth of the digital currency, the state-run