Chinese E-Commerce Giant to Accept Digital Yuan During Singles' Day Sale in Major E-Currency Test

Beijing has been testing a new digital currency that is set to replace coins and banknotes for almost a year now in isolated cases, platforms, and certain regions of the country. However, plans for a nationwide rollout have not yet been announced.

The Chinese e-commerce platform Jingdong (JD) has agreed to accept digital yuan (e-CNY) for purchases during a Singles' Day promotion period, that kicked off on 31 October and will last until the end of 11 November (which is Singles' Day itself).

This is one of the biggest shopping events in China and according to JD, some 100,000 of its customers used the opportunity and paid for their purchases with e-CNY. This makes JD's promotion of the digital currency one of the biggest in China, which still has not released a timeline for its nationwide rollout.

In addition to being allowed to use digital yuan, JD customers without e-wallets had the chance to open one via the marketplace's app and receive a welcome bonus of 15 e-CNY ($2.34), which is equal to 15 regular yuan.

China is one of several countries considering the issuance of a digital currency amid the popularity of Bitcoin and altcoins. The coin is not a cryptocurrency and just a digital analogue of bills and coins held in e-wallets.

Its first massive test was carried out in December of last year on the same platform as that during Singles' Day – JD. Additionally, the Central Bank of China tested the technologies in several cities and incentivised citizens to use e-CNY by giving out the currency via lotteries. Some 100 million e-CNY ($15.6 million) have been used so far by the holders of 450,000 digital wallets.