In an effort to draw in more users, China’s wallet app for its digital yuan central bank digital currency (CBDC) added a feature that allows users to send money in an electronic equivalent of traditional “red packets,” as reported by Cointelegraph.
According to a Dec. 26 article in the South China Morning Post, the new feature was released over the weekend, about one month before the Chinese New Year on January, 22.
Cointelegraph further noted that the “red packets,” also known as hongbao in China, are customarily used for giving money as a sign of good fortune during Chinese New Year celebrations and other occasions. Popular local services like WeChat Pay and Alipay now offer virtual red envelopes as a result of the growing use of digital payments.
In contrast to the $12 billion (87.6 billion yuan) reported by the People’s Bank of China at the end of 2021, digital yuan transactions crossed the $14 billion (100 billion yuan) threshold on October 10.
The e-CNY trails will be extended to the cities of Jinan, Nanning, Fangchenggang, and Kunming, according to a Dec. 18 report in the Chinese Workers’ Daily newspaper. Four additional provinces, including Guangdong, the most populous, were added to the trials in September.
The most recent reported user base of the e-CNY wallets was in January 2022, with 261 million users having set up a digital wallet, despite the government’s rapid expansion of the trials. WeChat Pay and Alipay may be used by China’s government to increase the adoption of digital yuan, Cointelegraph further noted.
(With insights from Cointelegraph)