WeChat Active Accounts Exceed 1 Billion Worldwide

WeChat, the popular messaging app developed by Chinese technology giant Tencent, saw its total domestic and international monthly active accounts exceed 1 billion during the past Chinese Lunar New Year in February, Pony Ma, Tencent's founder and chairman, said this week.

It is the first time WeChat's active accounts have exceeded the 1 billion mark, with the previous Q3 report released in November indicating the Chinese app had 980 million monthly accounts during the three-month period, according to a local report this week.

However, as many Chinese people have more than one WeChat account, or even multiple ones, the number of active WeChat users should be smaller than 1 billion.

WeChat falls behind Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, whose active users reportedly stood at 1.4 billion and 1.5 billion respectively as of last year.

WeChat's huge success is primarily built on Tencent's first hit product, the QQ messenger, which helped migrate most of its users from computer to mobile over the past few years.

In the meanwhile, as most popular foreign social media tools including Facebook and WhatsApp are blocked in China, Tencent has barely met any serious competition on its way to being the dominant mobile messaging app in the country.

About 90 percent of WeChat's active accounts are in China, although the app is also popular in some Southeast countries where Chinese smartphones are also well accepted. Its presence in the rest of the world is still relatively small, where most users are Chinese people traveling abroad or expats who use WeChat to communicate with people in China.

Tencent revealed last month that 768 million people had used WeChat to send out digital red packets -- monetary gifts commonly known as hongbao -- to celebrate the Lunar New Year in China this year.

Senders of hongbao on the platform accounted for about 78 percent of the total 980 million monthly active users of WeChat, and 55 percent of the entire 1.4 billion population in China.

PREVIOUS AND RELATED COVERAGE

WeChat allows users to link overseas credit cards

Tencent's latest relaxation will benefit those in mainland China that don't have credit cards issued by local banks.

Rakuten to release own cryptocurrency as it looks to enhance loyalty platform

Japanese e-commerce giant is looking to evolve its Super Points loyalty points platform and unleash its own blockchain-based cryptocurrency, called Rakuten Coin.

eBay acquires Qoo10 Japan e-commerce platform

eBay will also acquire other assets from Giosis.

Why WhatsApp's entrance into India's payments space has terrified Paytm

If WhatsApp's entry into digital payments in India is anything like WeChat's in China with its hyper-active user base driving payment activity, Paytm has a fight on its hands.

Walmart testing fully-automated store with no cashiers or checkouts (TechRepublic)

Computer vision will aid the initiative, dubbed Project Kepler, which is similar to the Amazon Go concept in Seattle.

RECENT NEWS

How Fintech Is Revolutionizing Traditional Banking

How fintech is revolutionizing traditional banking is a topic that is garnering positive and immense discourse within th... Read more

Blockchain And Its Impact On Fintech Industry

Blockchain and its impact on Fintech Industry has become a hot topic in the current digital era. The amalgamation of blo... Read more

The Rise Of Fintech In The Digital Era

In the heart of the digital revolution, we've observed a term termed as "fintech" creating a substantial and transformat... Read more

Role Of Fintech In Transforming Retail Banking

The role of fintech in transforming retail banking is producing significant changes in the financial services industry. ... Read more

Fintech Innovations In Asset Management

Financial technology, or FinTech, refers to the blending of financial services with technology. The importance of FinTec... Read more

Exploring The Future Of Accounting Software: Unveiling The Power Of AI

The revolutionary ignition sparked by artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be understated in contemporary business ecosys... Read more