Speaking at a November conference, Mu Changchun, who runs the e-CNY project at the People’s Bank of China, appeared to acknowledge the demand challenge. The e-CNY wasn’t a payment option on sites run by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which in 11 days racked up sales of nearly $85 billion, or 8.5 times the amount of digital yuan transacted over 18 months of trials. The company said 100,000 customers used e-CNY in 240,000 orders but declined to say how much of the total $55 billion spent during the sales period it constituted it was likely a fractional portion. made it a payment option during the event as part of a plan to encourage adoption of digital wallets. Pointedly, China’s annual online shopping extravaganza in November, known as Singles Day, featured only limited promotion of e-CNY, a currency designed for the internet. Based on central-bank numbers, the average amount spent per transaction was under $1. Giveaways aren’t nationwide they have been run in particular cities on specific dates and so far have left out small towns and rural areas. “Primarily, e-CNY has been distributed in free-to-enter lottery-type promotions and through discount deals designed to encourage downloads of the central bank’s app and digital wallets. I’m sure a majority of participants in the payments ecosystem hope this remains true: There is also interest in how quickly consumers might adopt digital money, but given the poor consumer adoption reported here, perhaps the payment tools consumers use today are sufficient. The primary concern among world leaders is its potential impact in world trade. Instead of looking for an ATM, we will have to look for a plug.The world is anxiously watching China’s digital yuan to learn how quickly a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will be adopted. What seems clear is that if in the near future we cannot pay in a shop or to a friend, it will not be because we do not have cash in our wallet, it will be because we do not have battery in our mobile phone. However, in the current international scenario, any option is possible. The particularities of the Asian market as well as the relationship of both companies with the Chinese executive make the international expansion of WeChat Pay and Alipay complicated. In Spain, Bizum has in its roadmap the payment in physical shops by QR, although it will have to compete with the current mobile payment systems that are already consolidated among the Spanish population. Whatsapp Pay has already been launched in some countries such as Brazil, although for the moment its functionality is limited to the payment of debts between individuals, and not in physical shops. And of course, an application, WeChat, supported by the Chinese administration itself, which became indispensable in every Smartphone.Īs for other alternatives, Whatsapp is still taking small steps in the implementation of its payment platform through its mobile application. A street trade of small stands and stalls that is still part of the DNA of Chinese life. A new generation of young people who, beyond the strict control of the Chinese government, were curious about Western habits and their way of relating. To give you an idea, A pple Pay is available in 48 countries and has about half as many users as WeChat and Alipay (between 400 and 500 million).Īnd what was the reason for this success? The background was good: a society that was not excessively bankable, in full economic expansion and anxious to consume. Outrageous figures in both cases that show the enormous potential of the Chinese market. According to the portal, WeChat Pay has 800 million active users per month and Alipay about 1200 million, 300 million of them outside the Chinese borders. And the truth is that they did not do badly. Tencent and Alibaba therefore looked for a way to make mobile payments reach everyone regardless of their mobile phone, giving even street traders the possibility to charge for their products without the need for a POS.
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