More than 2.6 million users signed up for the City of Shenzhen’s digital yuan airdrop

July 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

China

The city has about 18 million residents in its prefecture-level area.

According to data obtained from local news outlet Sohu.com, the Shenzhen Chamber of Commerce has recorded over 2.6 million signups for its latest digital yuan, or e-CNY, airdrop. Two months prior, the City of Shenzhen announced that it would be airdropping 30 million of the e-CNY central bank digital currency, or CBDC, to local residents to stimulate consumer spending as a recovery measure to the country's strict coronavirus lockdown.

Users who received the airdrops through a randomized lottery selection could then spend the e-CNY vouchers at various participating merchants' terminals on Meituan, one of China's leading e-commerce platforms. The event, which ran from May 30 to June 19, attracted more than 67,000 merchants.

Similarly, on Wednesday, the City of Fuzhou announced that it would be airdropping 20 million e-CNY to local residents. Users who passed through Know Your Customer identification and have a local number could then log in to the "e-Fuzhou" city app and enter a lottery draw for 100 e-CNY per airdrop. The airdropped digital yuan is dispensable at over 9,000 merchants around the city.

China's CBDC efforts have gained momentum since the beginning of the year, with the country's central bank planning to expand the number of e-CNY test sites to 23, up from 11. In the City of Tianjin, it is now possible to take out a loan denominated in e-CNY as well as pay for metro tickets using digital currency. Between April 2, when the e-CNY was introduced to Tianjin, and Sunday, local residents made approximately 1.86 million e-CNY transactions, amounting to 290 million CNY across close to 39,000 vendors.

City of Shenzhen airdrops 30M in free digital Yuan to stimulate consumer spending

May 30, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The move comes as part of a government effort-led to revitalize consumer spending as a zero-COVID policy has devastated the countries' economic hubs.

According to local news outlet Shanghai Securities News, the City of Shenzhen will airdrop 30 million digital Chinese Yuan (e-CNY) to local residents in an attempt to revitalize consumer spending.

The airdrop is a joint effort between the City of Shenzhen and Meituan Dianping, China's leading food delivery app. As per instructions, users would need to first login to the Meituan app, sign up for the incentive, and then potentially receive the e-CNY rewards as part of a lottery draw.

If chosen, the e-CNY is then dispensed to users and can be spent at more than 15,000 in-app merchant terminals that accept the state-owned digital currency. Previously, the People's Bank of China had identified the e-CNY as a potential tool for advancing regional economies and improving the efficiency of select financial services. Meanwhile, sources at Meituan say that the e-CNY plays a vital role in boosting spending and revitalizing local businesses. Shenzhen is also currently one of three cities in China where residents can pay municipal taxes and charges with the e-CNY.

Unlike many other countries, China has stringently abided by a zero-COVID policy that has seen the repeated lockdown and closure of non-essential businesses in major financial hubs such as Shanghai. Last Wednesday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held an emergency meeting with top Communist Party officials to discuss the devastating economic impacts of the country's COVID policy. Amid economic shortfalls, 20 out of 31 Chinese provinces have issued "consumer spending incentives," such as the recent e-CNY airdrop, from January to April.