China’s central bank will have to work closely with payment giants WeChat Pay and Alipay to achieve wider adoption for the e-CNY, the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), as it continues struggling to get consumers to use it, experts said.

The e-CNY app, made available for public downloads in pilot cities a year ago, rolled out a so-called red packet feature in late December that allows users to send their friends cash gifts usually given out in red envelopes on special occasions or festivals.

The feature sets the stage for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday starting Jan. 21 and allows e-CNY app users to send red envelopes via both WeChat, the dominant networking and payment app in China run by Tencent Holdings, and rival Alipay that is controlled by Ant Group, an affiliate of Jack Ma’s Alibaba conglomerate. 

(By TIMMY SHEN AND TOM ZUO)