Digital Red Packets Drive Record Online Transactions on Chinese New Year’s Eve

High-frequency monitoring data from the People’s Bank of China shows that this year on Chinese New Year’s Eve, as the clock struck midnight, the peak of online payment transactions processed by NetsUnion Clearing Corporation and China UnionPay reached a record high. The highest concurrent transactions were 109,000 per second, an increase of 4.61% compared to last year, setting a new historical record for the same period.

Many transactions occurred in the form of “digital red packet”, monetary gifts given during holidays or special occasions according to Chinese traditions. On February 10th, according to the “WeChat Pay” official account, users grabbed a total of 5.08 billion WeChat red packets on New Year’s Eve and sent “New Year’s special red packets” 190 million times.

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