Chinese social media platform Wechat has introduced state-backed digital renminbi support for its popular payment app. This will allow its more than one billion users to take advantage of quick payments in digital currency ostensibly issued by the People’s Bank of China (PBC).
Wechat Pay, followed by Alipay, integrates payments with digital yuan
Wechat, China’s largest social network and instant messenger, has added China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) to its payment application, Wechat Pay, in its latest update, local news media The Paper reported.
More than 1.2 billion users have access to the new feature, which allows users to pay for goods, services, and utilities using digital yuan (e-CNY) in select widgets, with more use cases planned in the future, including the launch of direct transactions between Wechat users
Approximately 750 million people use Wechat Pay every day. e-CNY payments are currently limited to RMB 2,000 (nearly $290) per transaction, with a daily limit of RMB 5,000 (just over $700), according to a Global Times report.
Wechat Pay, owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings, is the second major payment system in China to introduce digital renminbi support after Alibaba Group’s Alipay platform integrates e-CNY wallet in December 2022 It will become.
The Chinese government has been active in promoting digital currencies, with pilot operations in more than 20 cities and provinces and more than 5.5 million merchants and other businesses participating. According to data released late last year, e-CNY payment volume exceeded RMB 13.5 billion.
Use cases are also increasing, and in September, the People’s Bank of China called for deeper integration of the new currency with e-payment providers. Also in December, a former head of the central bank’s research department reportedly said that the piloting of the digital renminbi had yielded disappointing results in terms of use and activity.
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