China is set to introduce new functionality to its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan, according to the South China Morning Post.
The Boxing Day message noted users can soon send “red packets” of the stablecoin to others. Beijing launched the new feature at the weekend, just a month ahead of the upcoming Chinese New Year festival on 22 January.
Chinese citizens can send digital hongbao (红包) similar to the traditional red packets. Money gifts are offered to loved ones on New Year’s, the Spring and Autumn festivals, and other holidays, representing prosperity and good luck for the season.
Currently, Chinese people can send digital hongbao on WeChat Pay, Alipay, and other fintech service platforms. Both WeChat Pay and Alipay offer “lucky draw” options to groups to offer prizes.
Red Renmenbi Rollout
The news comes after digital yuan transactions topped $14 billion USD in October, up 14 percent from $12 billion in December 2021, The People’s Bank of China reported at the time.
Several provinces in mainland China have already launched the cryptocurrency, namely in China’s most populous region, Guangdong.
The report read: “Last week, authorities made digital yuan available in four more cities, including Yunnan province’s capital Kunming, and Shandong province’s capital Jinan, as well as the entire provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Hebei and Sichuan.”
As of January last year, 261 million people had created an e-CNY crypto wallet. Figures show that WeChat has 1.3 monthly active users (MAUs) in September. Over 1 billion users were already active on Alipay’s financial system in August 2020.
