Over the weekend, it was confirmed that Beijing is the third city to host a mass digital yuan lottery and trial. It will provide 200 yuan ($31) to 50,000 people for a total of RMB 10 million ($1.55 million). The central bank digital currency (CBDC) trial is intended to coincide with the one year count down to next year’s Winter Olympics hosted in the city.
Applications are already open, and the money can be spent from February 10-17. Physical merchants support the eCNY in the Wangfujing district and it can be used on the ecommerce app JD.com which has a special “Digital Wangfujing Ice and Snow Shopping Festival”.
The aim is to use the digital RMB for the Winter Olympics food, housing, travel, shopping, and entertainment.
On Friday, it was also confirmed that Suzhou City would host the second Suzhou eCNY trial of 30 million yuan for 150,000 people.
There was also rumored to be another trial in Chengdu, which has not yet been confirmed. The main reason for the flurry of trials is Chinese New Year is celebrated on February 12.
| Location | Date | People | Amount |
| Shenzhen – Luohu district | October 2020 | 50,000 | RMB 10m |
| Suzhou – Xiangcheng District | December 2020 | 100,000 | RMB 20m |
| Shenzhen – Futian district | December 2020 | 100,000 | RMB 20m |
| Shenzen – Longhua district | January 2021 | 100,000 | RMB 20m |
| Suzhou City | February 2021 | 150,000 | RMB 30m |
| Beijing – Dongcheng district | February 2021 | 50,000 | RMB 10m |
| Chengdu | February 2021? | 250,000? | RMB 50m? |
Not counting the unconfirmed Chengdu trial, the total number of people who to participate in the tests will be 550,000 in giveaways totally RMB 110 million or $1.7 million.
