Leading Chinese social network WeChat has added digital yuan (e-CNY) support to its payment services, local publication The Paper reported. WeChat’s integration of the e-CNY fast payment feature should help expand the use of this form of national currency promoted by the Chinese authorities.
Started as a messaging app but developed into a full-fledged social network, the WeChat app, created by tech giant Tencent Holdings, has more than 1.2 billion monthly active users. Now they can pay for goods and services in digital yuan in certain WeChat widgets through the WeChat Pay system. In the future, the social network will add more use cases for e-CNY.
There is now a limit per transaction of 2,000 yuan ($289) and a daily limit of 5,000 yuan ($720), Global Times found out.
The digital yuan, also known as e-CNY, is being tested in at least 26 Chinese provinces and cities, with 5.6 million shops and service businesses participating. As of the end of December 2022, the volume of electronic payments in the digital national currency e-CNY amounted to 13.61 billion yuan ($2 billion).
In December 2022, Alipay, the payment system of the Alibaba group, announced the start of accepting digital yuan. This system processes transactions between sellers and buyers on AliExpress, as well as on Taobao, Shanghai Bus, Youbao platforms and in Tmall and Hema supermarket chains.