CBDC wallet uses ancient tradition to boost adoption.

The digital yuan wallet app includes a virtual version of a traditional Chinese money-gifting method.

China's digital yuan wallet app introduced an electronic version of traditional "red packets" to attract new users.

The new feature was released over the weekend, one month before Chinese New Year on Jan. 22.

"Red packets," called hongbao in China, are used to gift money during Chinese New Year and other celebrations. WeChat Pay and Alipay offer virtual red envelopes for digital payments.

The e-CNY app allows a red packet to be sent to one person or a "lucky draw" can be set up for a group of people to get a random amount from a pool of funds. WeChat Pay and Alipay have a similar feature.

Users can choose a packet cover with new year, birthday, and "prosperous China" wishes.

Digital yuan transactions surpassed $14 billion (100 billion yuan) on Oct. 10, a 14% increase from the $12 billion (87.6 billion yuan) reported at the end of 2021.

The e-CNY trails will expand to Jinan, Nanning, Fangchenggang, and Kunming, according to the Chinese Workers' Daily. In September, the trials expanded to four provinces, including Guangdong.

Despite the government's rapid expansion of the trials, 261 million people had an e-CNY wallet in January 2022.

WeChat Pay and Alipay may help China promote its digital yuan.

WeChat had 1.3 monthly active users in the September quarter, while Alipay had over 1 billion annual active users in its fiscal year ending Aug. 17, 2020.

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