Last January, WeChat which is a multi -purpose messaging and mobile payments app has expressed a desire to start supporting digital yuan blockchain solutions. The company’s move is expected to increase the number of citizens in using e-CNY rapidly as WeChat has nearly 1.2 billion active users.
Yet recent reports show that they have begun supporting digital yuan blockchain solutions. The service is available in all 23 provinces in China, where these financial products are being tested.
In other words, WeChat has allowed customers to facilitate transactions in digital yuan. Users need to register an account with Tencent WeBank before using CBDC. Adding such support from apps with more than one billion subscribers is expected to significantly increase e-CNY distribution.
Not to be outdone, WeChat's main competitor in China, Alipay, has also set its focus on digital yuan alternative payments. Last year, the firm run by “Alibaba affiliate Ant Group” was seen to have begun attempts to explore its possibilities in adoption.
Speaking on the matter, Linghao Bao-Analyst at Consultancy Trivium China-opined that Chinese consumers are so committed in using the products of the two companies that they cannot be persuaded to switch to new mobile payment apps.
Not surprisingly, China’s central bank is also committed to working with the app giant. While many countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Jamaica have announced intentions to explore CBDC products, China is seen as far ahead in adopting CBDC in the real economy.
So far more than 140 million Chinese people have opened digital wallets, 10 million of which are corporate accounts. In addition, the national authorities also allowed the use of financial products during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.