Internet company Tencent on Monday reported record user participation in sending and receiving gift money on the eve of Spring Festival via its messaging platform.

The number of digital "red envelopes" with gift money sent and received via its WeChat messaging platform reached 8.08 billion on Jan. 7, the lunar new year eve, which is eight times that of last year.

A total of 409,000 "red envelopes" were sent and received each second during peak hours, Tencent said.

The record user participation for gift money giving, a long Spring Festival tradition, underpins the growing number of mobile phone users in China and their increasing willingness to use third-party payment and other Internet financing services, analysts said.