China tests digital yuan at Shenzhen ATMs

The Agricultural Bank of China tested the digital yuan (DCEP) at its ATMs in Shenzhen. Customers exchanged cash and bank deposits for the digital yuan, and vice versa, local media.

An ATM supporting DCEP is part of the People’s Bank of China experiment in Shenzhen. As part of the test, authorities distributed through a lottery 100,000 ‘red envelopes’ with 200 digital yuan in each, totaling about $3 million. Winners must spend the funds by January 17.

The state-owned bank also launched an innovation laboratory aimed at creating applications supporting the digital yuan. Today the currency can be spent in more than 10,000 shops, restaurants and supermarkets in Shenzhen.

Earlier in December, mass testing of the DCEP took place in Suzhou, where authorities distributed 100,000 ‘red envelopes’ with 200 DCEP each.

In October 2020, almost 2 million people applied to receive one of 50,000 ‘red envelopes’.

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