Text: Yanzu
Today, mobile payments have taken over the entire payment market, including large businesses as well as small traders and hawkers. The vast majority of people in China are users of mobile payments. Many are also beginning to predict that mobile payments will gradually replace cash. Based on the current momentum, mobile payments do put pressure on cash, with fewer and fewer people using it. In such a fast-paced era, mobile payments can be better integrated into people's lives.
According to the 2021 Global Payments Report, online payments account for half of all payment methods in China. In addition, according to research data from the China Internet Information Center, 872 million people in China use the Internet to pay. It can be seen that online payment has become the preferred payment method for people. In China's Internet payment market, there are two giants, Alipay and WeChat. According to iResearch, the two companies together account for 90% of China's online payment market.
In order to break the monopoly of the two internet giants in the field of mobile payment, Chinese Bank began to study a new payment method "digital yuan" as early as 2014. Last year, it was reported that Huawei was invited to participate in research and development, and a number of pilot projects were carried out in Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities.
According to public information, after nearly two years of promotion and use, the number of users of "digital yuan" has exceeded 140 million. Although there is a certain distance between Alipay and WeChat users, the new payment method has shown great potential and market recognition.
The advantage of the digital yuan is that it doesn't have to bind a bank card like WeChat or Alipay. It can be used directly. It has the same properties as the banknotes we usually use, namely the digitization of banknotes. The most important thing is to pay with WeChat or Alipay. If the mobile phone may not be able to pay in the area of poor signal, and the digital yuan does not have such problems, it can be paid anywhere and is not affected by the mobile phone network signal.
Now the two-dimensional code payment is very convenient, not only convenient for buyers, but also convenient for sellers. As a result, many vendors choose to accept only mobile payments instead of cash. Although the state also explicitly prohibits such acts, it is still repeatedly prohibited. Vegetable markets, in particular, do not charge cash, which is very troublesome for the elderly who do not use smartphones and affects their daily lives. After the implementation of digital currency, even the elderly can pay flexibly.
In fact, long ago, the relevant departments of the state began to study the framework and content of digital people. The reason why China has studied digital currencies shows that today's online payments play an important role in China's financial markets. If a private enterprise is directly allowed to master online payments, in the long run, this will not be a good thing for the country or the people. After years of testing and trial operation, according to data released by the central bank, 1.55 million merchants support the use of digital yuan, and the transaction amount is close to 62 billion yuan.
Perhaps feeling that the time is ripe, now, according to the China Economic Network, by 2022, the pilot version of the digital yuan mobile phone software has landed on major platforms on January 4. Now, as long as you are a resident of a specific area, you can try to install this software. At present, it can be used in 11 regions such as Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu, Shanghai, Xiong'an and Hainan. In addition, it is worth mentioning that it also includes Beijing and Zhangjiakou, the two host cities of the Winter Olympics.
Will Alipay and WeChat be replaced?
I'm sure it's hard for everyone to answer this question. After all, the pilot of the digital yuan has only just begun, and its function and popularity are relatively lacking. So, there's still a long way to go before that feature is completed and officially launched. At present, the status of Alipay and WeChat is still very stable.
Therefore, many media have boldly speculated that although Alipay and WeChat will not be replaced, in the future, the digital yuan is likely to dominate the market, and the market share of WeChat and Alipay will become smaller. If the market wants to prosper, there must be enough order. Once the digital currency is properly promoted, it will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the mobile payment market. What WeChat and Alipay need to do is promote digital currencies, rather than considering how to resist the birth of this new payment method.
The release of the digital yuan is not a hot head or blind follow-up, but based on the popularity of mobile payment. In the future, more and more people will use the digital yuan, and problems in use will follow. How to deal with these problems is a line of defense to ensure the benign development of the digital yuan.
And the implementation of digital currency also has international significance. Its purpose is to break the hegemony of the US dollar and increase the international influence of the renminbi. This involves foreign trade. For any country to conduct foreign trade transactions, it must go through the foreign exchange system of the United States. If the United States shuts down a country's settlement system, it will have a huge impact on the country's foreign trade, such as Iran not long ago.
After the implementation of digital currency in China, foreign trade transactions do not need to go through the US settlement system, but can be directly settled through the mobile Internet. This will break the hegemony of the US dollar to a certain extent and enhance the international status of the renminbi. If you have any suggestions and opinions on the emergence of the digital yuan, you can comment on the comments below.