• China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan, or eCNY, has received upgrades giving it smart contract functionality and new use cases.
• The smart contract function was launched on the Meituan app, a Chinese app offering retail and food delivery services.
• A “red envelope,” or hongbao, containing 8,888 yuan, worth a little over $1,300, is given away as a prize when users place an order and pay with their e-CNY wallet.
Recently, China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan, or eCNY, has seen some upgrades that give it smart contract functionality and new use cases. This development was first launched on the Meituan app, a Chinese app offering retail and food delivery services.
When Meituan users place an order and pay with their e-CNY wallet, a smart contract is triggered and searches for keywords and purchased items in their order. If a user buys something on the list of keywords for the day, they go in the draw to win part of a prize. This prize is a share of a “red envelope,” known locally as hongbao, containing 8,888 yuan, worth a little over $1,300.
Hongbao are small packets traditionally used for gifting money around Chinese New Year as a gesture of good luck. This new development has allowed the digital yuan to become more widely used and accepted by more people. This is a great step forward for the digital currency and opens up various opportunities for it in the future.
In addition to the smart contract function, the digital yuan can now be used to buy securities and make offline payments. This is a great step forward, as it allows the digital yuan to be used in more places, making it more widely accessible. This opens up a number of new use cases for the digital yuan, as well as providing more security for users.
Overall, this development is a great step forward for the digital yuan. It opens up a number of new possibilities and use cases, as well as providing more security and convenience for users. This is a great step forward for the digital currency, and it will be interesting to see what other uses and functions it can be used for in the future.