JD.Com Says It's Accepting China's Digital Yuan for Latest Lottery

Chinese e-commerce firm JD.Com says it has become the first online platform to accept the nation's central bank digital currency.

By Daniel Palmer

Dec 5, 2020 at 10:05 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 10:38 a.m. UTC

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Chinese e-commerce firm JD.Com says it has become the first online platform to accept the nation's central bank digital currency (CBDC).

As reported by Reuters on Saturday, JD Digits – the company's digital technology arm – will accept the digital yuan at its online shopping center during the second mass giveaway of the token in the city of Suzhou.
CoinDesk previously reported the event, a kind of lottery, will allow the city's residents to apply to win 200 digital yuan as happened with the first such giveaway in Shenzhen in October.
According to Reuters, there will be a total of 10,000 winners this time around who will be able to spend the tokens at stores that are set up with point-of-sales technology that can handle the CBDC.
The Suzhou lottery kicks of on Dec. 12 – a shopping festival known as "Double 12" – and is said to be trialing functionality of the token including offline (phone-to-phone) payments.
Seemingly preparing the ground for the launch of the CBDC, China’s central bank proposed a banking law in October, recognizing the renminbi in both physical and digital form, and outlawing all third-party rivals. This would likely be a blow to cryptocurrencies like Tether's yuan stablecoin if passed.
Read more: Proposed Chinese Law Outlaws All Yuan-Pegged Tokens – Except for Its CBDC

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