China's digital currency will be compatible with WeChat Pay and Alipay
China is about to add digital yuan support to WeChat Pay and Alipay. According to the South China Morning Post, in the future, the People's Bank of the country will continue to integrate the cryptocurrency asset into other financial instruments, which were previously focused only on fiat money. Mu Changchun, head of the Institute for the Study of Digital Currencies under the Chinese regulator, also confirmed the information about the inclusion of the digital yuan in WeChat Pay and Alipay.
China expands the market for its yet-to-be-released digital yuan
“The CBDC, which is currently being developed by the financial regulator, will not compete with existing payment systems. We hope that digital yuan will be able to be integrated into many instruments. In particular, the People's Bank of China cooperates with many large companies, one way or another connected with the financial sector. WeChat Pay and Alipay will be no exception, ”said Changchun.A representative of the Institute for Digital Currency Research also noted that brands involved in the production of electronic gadgets also announced their readiness to release their own financial instruments like Apple Wallet from the American electronics manufacturer. They will support the fiat version of the yuan and its digital counterpart. If desired, users should be able to convert currencies in real-time, which will not create any problems when calculating or executing transactions.
“WeChat and Alipay are wallets, and the digital yuan is money in the wallet. Our banking system will work according to this scheme. Other big names will join the list of wallets. While it is difficult to announce all the companies that have joined our initiative, since for this they must present their financial instruments suitable for integrating the digital yuan, ”the specialist explained.
Digital yuan integration
In early August this year, the Financial Times reported that China is going to position its cryptocurrency as alternatives for large payment services from Alibaba and Tencent. Later, this information was partially refuted by representatives of the People's Bank. They stated that they are going to release a completely independent product that will not overlap with their direct counterparts. The central bank will use its own distributed ledger to perform operations with the asset.The consulting agency Analysys estimates that Alipay has 55 percent of the Chinese market and WeChat Pay 39 percent. If the People's Bank of the country can really popularize the digital yuan, then these services will receive a lot of new users.
Earlier it was reported that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were more popular than gold among investors from Russia.