Navigation
  • Inter Softech
  • World
  • National
  • Business
  • Education
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Health
  • More
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
    • Technology
    • Sports
Breaking News
  |  Indonesia says it will push back Rohingya refugees adrift on leaking boat   |  Plastic beads could make nets more visible to cetaceans, scientists say   |  Harry Reid, who led Senate Democrats for 12 years, dies at 82   |  Denver gunman who killed five in shooting rampage knew victims   |  Prince Andrew lawyer seeks to halt US case as accuser ‘lives in Australia’   |  Russian court orders closure of another human rights group   |  Hong Kong media outlet Stand News to close after police raid   |  Manipur NPP leader Letpao Haokip joins BJP   |  Jharkhand: Rs 25 per litre relief in price of fuel for two wheelers of the poor   |  19-year-old stabbed to death by friend’s father: Kerala Police   |  Akhilesh takes Lord Hanuman out on Vijay Yatra   |  Paul Bettany: having Johnny Depp texts read aloud in libel trial was ‘an unpleasant feeling’   |  Russian court increases jail sentence for Gulag historian   |  Jesus statue smashed in spate of attacks on India’s Christian community   |  Jean-Marc Vallée, director of Dallas Buyers Club, Wild and Big Little Lies, dies aged 58   |  Palma to limit cruise ships after environmental concerns   |  Donald Trump golf resorts claimed at least £3.3m in UK furlough support   |  Afghan ex-BBC journalist stranded for months due to Home Office scheme delays   |  England cricket capitulations have gone from car-crash to commonplace   |  Tennis star Denis Shapovalov tests positive for Covid after arriving in Sydney

Latest News

China digital currency trials show threat to Alipay, WeChat duopoly

April 27, 2021
26

In China’s commercial hub Shanghai, six big state banks are quietly promoting digital yuan ahead of a May 5 shopping festival, carrying out a political mandate to provide consumers with a payment alternative to Alipay and WeChat Pay.

The banks are persuading merchant and retail clients to download digital wallets so that transactions during the pilot programme can be made directly in digital yuan, bypassing the ubiquitous payment plumbing laid by tech giants Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba, and Tencent.

“People will realise that digital yuan payment is so convenient that I don’t have to rely on Alipay or WeChat Pay anymore,” said a bank official involved in the rollout of e-CNY for the Shanghai trial, under the guidance of China’s central bank. The official is not authorised to speak with media and declined to be identified.

China’s development of a sovereign digital currency, which is far ahead of similar initiatives in other major economies, looks increasingly poised to erode the dominance of Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay in online payments.

Also Read | The Hindu Explains | How does China’s digital currency work?

That turf encroachment coincides with Beijing’s expanding effort to clamp down on anticompetitive behaviour in the internet sector, part of a wider reining in of the clout of sector heavyweights.

Regulators scuppered Ant’s record $37 billion IPO in November and earlier this month imposed a sweeping restructuring on the fintech conglomerate controlled by Jack Ma. Ma’s Alibaba Group Holdings was recently hit with a record $2.8 billion antitrust penalty.

In public, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) says e-CNY won’t compete with AliPay or WeChat Pay, and serves only as a “backup” or “redundancy”.

But in private, state banks marketing the digital fiat currency for the central bank bluntly describe Beijing’s intention to undercut the duo’s dominance.

“Big data is wealth. Whoever owns data thrives,” said another banking official tasked with promoting the e-CNY.

“WeChat Pay and Alipay own an ocean of data,” so the e-CNY rollout facilitates China’s anti-trust campaign and helps the government control big data, he added.

Also Read | ‘Britcoin’ digital currency being considered by UK

The PBOC and Tencent declined to respond to requests for comment.

Ant declined to comment on the relationship between Alipay and e-CNY. Ant-backed MYbank said it is “one of the parties participating in the research and development” of the e-CNY, and “will steadily advance the trial pursuant to the overall arrangement of the People’s Bank of China.”

Digital Cash

The e-CNY digitalises a portion of China’s physical notes and coins, or currency in circulation (M0), and was launched last year in small pilot schemes in four cities.

Under a two-tier distribution system, the PBOC issues the digital currency to banks, which pass the money to individuals and companies.

The six banks in the e-CNY pilot schemes include China’s biggest lenders such Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, and China Construction Bank.

“The e-CNY’s ease of use will likely be comparable to Alipay and WeChat Pay, while its security function will likely be higher, and as sophisticated as Bitcoin,” HSBC wrote in a recent report, adding that it expects the digital currency to “proliferate” within China.

Also Read | Japan’s central bank kicks off experiments on issuing digital currency

Among a slew of likely motivations cited by HSBC behind the push is the central bank’s desire to gain control of payment channels and consumption data from Alipay and WeChat Pay.

Conspicuously absent

Digital wallets, which are still being beta tested, can be bundled with a dozen popular apps including Meituan, JD.com,Didi and Bilibili, but conspicuously can not be linked to WeChat or Alipay. That means none of the participating banks can transfer e-CNY between their digital wallets and the two established payment platforms.

“PBOC doesn’t want to see the money being routed through third-party payment systems,” a banker said, citing the need for “information segregation”.

The e-CNY will digitize “the last mile” of consumption,enabling banks and merchants to capture data and gain insightsinto spending patterns, said Wilson Chow, Global TMT Leader, PwCChina.

That data is now dominated by Alipay and WeChat Pay, which control a combined 94% of China’s online payment market.

Also Read | Biden’s SEC chair nominee signals more regulation for cryptocurrencies

Mass adoption of the e-CNY won’t happen overnight.

Chow predicts that e-CNY will account for roughly 10% of China’s electronic payments market in a few years, co-existing with Alipay and WeChat Pay.

To entice users, bankers said the PBOC will likely give “red envelopes” of free digital cash or discounts to Shanghai citizens around the upcoming shopping festival, an event aimed at promoting spending to fuel economic recovery from COVID-19.

PBOC deputy governor Li Bo told a forum last week that domestic adoption will precede cross-border payments with e-CNY,which many analysts believe will bolster the yuan’s global status as China seeks ultimately to break the dominance of the dollar settlement system.

“The priority of the yuan’s digitalization is currently to promote its domestic use,” Li said.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

facebookShare on Facebook
TwitterTweet
FollowFollow us

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Advertisment

Recent Posts

  • Indonesia says it will push back Rohingya refugees adrift on leaking boat
    Latest News, World
    December 29, 2021
    Indonesian authorities have said they will push a boat containing 120 Rohingya Muslims back to international waters despite fears that it could sink off the country’s northernmost province of Aceh. The boat was reportedly leaking, had a damaged […]
  • Plastic beads could make nets more visible to cetaceans, scientists say
    Latest News, World
    December 29, 2021
    Simple plastic beads could save the lives of some of the thousands of porpoises and other cetaceans that get caught in fishing nets each year, scientists say. Harbour porpoises use echolocation to find their prey and for orientation. However, their […]
  • Harry Reid, who led Senate Democrats for 12 years, dies at 82
    Latest News, World
    December 29, 2021
    Harry Reid, who emerged from the unforgiving political landscape of Las Vegas, Nevada, to lead the Senate Democrats for 12 turbulent years, died on Tuesday at age 82. Reid died Tuesday, “peacefully” and surrounded by friends “following a courageous, […]
  • Denver gunman who killed five in shooting rampage knew victims
    Latest News, World
    December 29, 2021
    A gunman who killed five people and injured two others in a series of shootings in Denver is believed to have targeted the victims based on previous personal and business dealings and was investigated by police twice in the last two years. Denver […]
  • Prince Andrew lawyer seeks to halt US case as accuser ‘lives in Australia’
    Latest News, World
    December 29, 2021
    Prince Andrew’s lawyer has called for the US civil case against the royal over alleged sexual assault to be stopped because his accuser is “actually domiciled in Australia”. Virginia Giuffre is suing the Queen’s son for allegedly assaulting her when […]
  • Russian court orders closure of another human rights group
    Latest News, World
    December 29, 2021
    A Russian court has ordered the closure of the Memorial Human Rights Centre (MHRC), a day after the supreme court revoked the legal status of its sister organisation, Memorial International. Moscow city court authorised the dissolution of the group […]
  • Hong Kong media outlet Stand News to close after police raid
    Latest News, World
    December 29, 2021
    The Hong Kong pro-democracy media outlet Stand News has said it will shut down after police raided its offices earlier in the day and arrested senior staff on suspicion of “conspiracy to publish seditious publications”. “Because of the situation, […]
  • Manipur NPP leader Letpao Haokip joins BJP
    Latest News, National
    December 29, 2021
    Manipur minister and NPP leader Letpao Haokip on Thursday joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister Bhupender Yadav. NPP is BJP’s ally in Manipur and Haokip is the youth affairs and sports minister in the BJP-led government in the state. […]
  • Jharkhand: Rs 25 per litre relief in price of fuel for two wheelers of the poor
    Latest News, National
    December 29, 2021
    Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren Wednesday announced concession of Rs 25 per litre on petrol and diesel prices for two wheelers owned by the poor in the state from Republic Day next year. Soren made the announcement on it on the completion of […]
  • 19-year-old stabbed to death by friend’s father: Kerala Police
    Latest News, National
    December 29, 2021
    A 19-year-old man, who went to meet his friend at her house, was stabbed to death by her father in the wee hours of Wednesday here, police said. Police identified the victim as Aneesh George. He was stabbed to death at the house of Simon Lalu. […]
  • Akhilesh takes Lord Hanuman out on Vijay Yatra
    Latest News, National, Politics
    December 29, 2021
    Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is on a Rath Yatra to boost his chances to return to power in Uttar Pradesh next year. Rath Yatra holds a special political significance in Uttar Pradesh politics. It was a Rath Yatra by veteran Bharatiya […]
  • Paul Bettany: having Johnny Depp texts read aloud in libel trial was ‘an unpleasant feeling’
    Latest News, World
    December 27, 2021
    The actor Paul Bettany has spoken for the first time about having the text messages exchanged between himself and Johnny Depp concerning Amber Heard read out at Depp’s libel trial. Bettany, who is currently promoting A Very British Scandal, told the […]
  • Russian court increases jail sentence for Gulag historian
    Latest News, World
    December 27, 2021
    A Russian court has increased a jail sentence for the Gulag historian Yury Dmitriyev to a total of 15 years on charges his supporters say are punishment for his work exposing Stalin-era crimes. Supporters say Dmitriyev, 65, is being targeted because […]
  • Jesus statue smashed in spate of attacks on India’s Christian community
    Latest News, World
    December 27, 2021
    Festive celebrations were disrupted, Jesus statues were smashed and effigies of Santa Claus were burned in a spate of attacks on India’s Christian community over Christmas. Amid growing intolerance and violence against India’s Christian minority, […]
  • Jean-Marc Vallée, director of Dallas Buyers Club, Wild and Big Little Lies, dies aged 58
    Latest News, World
    December 27, 2021
    Jean-Marc Vallée, the Canadian director best known for his work on Matthew McConaughey drama Dallas Buyers Club, has died aged 58. Vallée’s representative, Bumble Ward, said he died suddenly over the weekend in his cabin outside Quebec City. His two […]
  • Palma to limit cruise ships after environmental concerns
    Latest News, World
    December 27, 2021
    Officials in the Balearic Islands will seek to limit cruise ships to a maximum of three vessels a day at its largest port, in a deal described as the first of its kind in Spain. The regional government said in a statement that arrivals at Palma in […]
  • Donald Trump golf resorts claimed at least £3.3m in UK furlough support
    Latest News, World
    December 27, 2021
    Donald Trump’s loss-making Scottish golf resorts claimed in excess of £3.3m in emergency support from the UK government, to help furlough staff during the Covid pandemic. Company accounts for the former president’s resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire […]
  • Afghan ex-BBC journalist stranded for months due to Home Office scheme delays
    Latest News, World
    December 27, 2021
    An Afghan former BBC journalist who managed to flee the Taliban has been stranded in a refugee camp for months because of delays to a resettlement scheme promised by the UK government. Mudassar Kadir* is the only one of 14 former BBC employees to […]
  • England cricket capitulations have gone from car-crash to commonplace
    Latest News, Sports
    December 26, 2021
    Typical: Christmas evening, you turn on the television and it’s another bloody repeat. Although in fairness to England, pick through the dental records of their latest Ashes capitulation and you might just be able to identify a few distinguishing […]
  • Tennis star Denis Shapovalov tests positive for Covid after arriving in Sydney
    Latest News, Sports
    December 26, 2021
    Canadian tennis star Denis Shapovalov has announced he has tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Sydney ahead of the Australian Open. The 22-year-old is one of the first overseas players to arrive in Australia and is part of Canada’s team […]

Categories

  • Business (8)
  • Crime (11)
  • Education (1)
  • Health (7)
  • Latest News (396)
  • Lifestyle (6)
  • National (100)
  • Odisha (24)
  • Politics (24)
  • Sports (19)
  • Uncategorized (2)
  • World (209)

© Inter Softech 2021 - All rights reserved. Designed by Inter Softech

MENU
  • Intersoftech
  • World
  • National
  • Business
  • Education
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Technology
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
Web Design BangladeshBangladesh Online Market