Some of China’s largest state banks are actively promoting the digital yuan as a superior means of payment to the country’s two leading payment providers, Alipay and WeChat Pay.
In an April 26 report, Reuters revealed that six of China’s largest banks are promoting China’s nascent central bank-issued digital currency, or CBDC, in Shanghai ahead of an online shopping festival on May 5.
The banks are urging retail outlets and consumers to download the digital wallet and make purchases using the CBDC, or e-CNY. This would bypass the current payment methods of choice for millions of shoppers – Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay.
