Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Oct 18, 2025

Digital yuan will not compete with WeChat Pay or Alipay

Digital yuan will not compete with WeChat Pay or Alipay

China’s digital yuan will not compete with private apps like WeChat Pay and Alipay, but it may have to contend with counterfeit digital wallets.

China’s Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) will not compete with WeChat Pay and Alipay, the head of the programme clarified for the first time on Sunday. The two digital wallets had a combined 94 per cent share of the country’s mobile payments industry in the second quarter, according to iResearch.

“They don’t belong to the same dimension. WeChat and Alipay are wallets, while the digital yuan is the money in the wallet,” said Mu Changchun, the head of the research institute for digital currency at the People’s Bank of China. He spoke in Shanghai at the 2nd Bund Summit, co-organised by the China Finance 40 Forum.

However, the digital yuan is distributed through an app that some consumers may choose to use instead of private mobile wallets, according to Wang Leilei, a fintech consultant at the Shanghai-based financial industry consultancy Kapronasia. She said participants of a pilot run in Shenzhen earlier this month were asked to download a specific app for DCEP.

“If the digital money is to be allocated through the app, some people may switch to the app, while others may transfer it to WeChat or Alipay. It depends on consumers and the use case,” Wang said.

Alipay is owned by Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post.


Mu Changchun, the head of the People’s Bank of China’s research institute for digital currency, at the 2nd Bund Summit.


However people decide to use the new digital yuan, though, it still faces an age-old problem similar to cash: counterfeiting.

“We have found counterfeit digital yuan wallets on the market,” Mu said at the summit without providing any additional details.

The central bank is currently running its first DCEP trials with designated institutions and merchants in China’s southern tech hub of Shenzhen. The city concluded the country’s largest test of the sovereign digital currency this month after local authorities gave out 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) to more than 47,500 people by lottery.

The digital yuan was awarded in the form of “red packets” each containing 200 yuan that could be spent in designated shops. A total of 1.9 million residents signed up to take part in the giveaway.

Wang, from Kapronasia, noted that users who are not familiar with DCEP may be targeted by fraudsters. Consumers could be tricked into taking part in fraudulent digital currency schemes that have nothing to do with the central bank, she said. The fake currency would not be able to be used at authorised merchants.

PBOC’s Mu said reducing counterfeiting will require coordination between the different sides tasked with bringing the digital currency to ordinary users.

The DCEP currently operates on two tiers. The first involves the central bank, which issues the digital yuan. The second involves designated institutions such as commercial banks, which distribute the currency to users.

Digital wallets will also have to form their own unique visual identity and functions, Mu said.

Connecting designated operators and reducing payment barriers will require formulating business, technical, security and application standards, he said during his speech. He also noted that operators should work on developing their own features, including more payment and financial products.

Mu also underlined the need for “centralised supervision” from the central bank, creating a clear distinction between the digital yuan and private cryptocurrencies like the Facebook-backed Libra, to which it is sometimes compared. Supervision will allow the DCEP to “resist the erosion of cryptoassets and global stablecoins,” he said. Stablecoins are digital currencies that have their value pegged to other assets like commodities or national currencies.

Mu’s emphasis on centralisation also separates the digital yuan from cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, which run on a decentralised blockchain over a peer-to-peer network. Mu said last year that the PBOC is not looking at just one technical approach to managing its new digital currency, suggesting blockchain could be one of its tools. Whether the central bank uses it, Wang said commercial banks and other distributors can still choose to use the technology.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
×